Of tutors and soccer players
by les etoiles et le ciel
Summary: Jean Kirschstien is a popular senior and the soccer captain at Trost high school, who dreams of going pro, but his grades suck, the school asks Armin Arlert, the smartest and most picked on kid in the senior class, to tutor him. But of course, Armin develops a crush on Jean, and Jean being Jean is oblivious. Jearmin High school AU, rated T for swearing and homophobic characters.
1. Prologue

**Hi viewers, this is just a prologue so i hope you guys enjoy it enough to review, that would be great. Sorry if you guys don't like soccer but just bear with me, the rest of the story after this will be told in Armin's POV rather than in 3rd person, so you won't have to deal with me going in to depth with it.**

**Review's are very appreciated as it's nice to have people give me the determination to continue writing better chapters**

* * *

"Jean, Mr. Dot would like to see you in his office." Mr. Smith called with an annoyed look on his face

Jean broke out in a nervous sweat, he couldn't get in trouble. "Uh, okay. Should I bring my bags?"

"I don't know, go ahead." The physics teacher seemed to get annoyed every second Jean didn't exit the classroom. Not that he Jean would suffer greatly from missing a class period, but because the longer he waited the longer it would take him to know if Jean was in trouble. Jean was the captain of the soccer team since his sophomore year, his team needs him to win the soccer game that sent them into state playoffs, and Mr. Smith, Coach Erwin, did not want to picture the game without the star player.

"Uh, I guess I'll just bring it, see you later Coach." He said leaving quickly, if Erwin's looks could kill, he would have been dead if he stayed 2 seconds longer.

Jean racked his brain trying to figure out what the hell he could've done. He was staying out of trouble for this soccer game. Not that he was usually in trouble, the only time he ever had issues was when that new kid from St. Maria's Private school, Yeager called him 'horse face' or 'Sarah Jessica Parker'. But he had ignored Eren's attempts at him since the team was close to qualifying for playoffs.

_I haven't hit or kicked anyone, I've toned myself down a little in dodge ball, my attendance is perfect, and I don't have social media, what coul- shit!_ _I'm almost failing 2 classes._

He had been so focused on soccer and practicing he had not been studying for History or English. He hated that shit, he actually had to study. He had taken honors Calculus junior year because he had skipped basic math in 7th grade and went straight to Algebra, and he currently has AP Physics, Physics is basically different variations of a root problem so he never had trouble with, but if he had to apply himself heavily in class he would really have to heavily apply himself.

Jean's inner monologue began with calling himself an idiot, then to a small panic attack about not being able to play.

Jean put everything into soccer and it was the primary focus of his life. Soccer came first for him, if you knew the name Jean Kirschstein; you knew soccer came before everything. He didn't have an expecting parent who pushed him for this, no, he genuinely loved the game. He was on a similar path to one of his heroes, the Welsh Footballer Gareth Bale, he had been asked to attend a soccer school but his mother just didn't have the money.

Jean wanted to be a professional. He wanted to play in the American Soccer League, The Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1, or Bundesliga. Of course he would prefer an English or German Speaking association football league so he didn't have to learn another language, but if Barcelona or Real wanted him, he would definitely go to La Liga. He wanted to play in the World Cup; he had 2 choices for teams to be on too.

Jean has dual-citizenship in both America and Germany. His mother is an American and his father was German. If you had asked little 3 year old Jean what he wanted to be when he grew up the same answer was given in a strange accent, 'A professional fussball player'. Of course people would mistake it for American football, but little Jean's was bilingual.

Leading his high school soccer team to winning the Championships junior year with his Co-Captain, then senior Levi Ackerman, had put both college and professional scouts eye's on him. If he did it again solo in senior year, he couldn't even imagine the response.

He could not believe he was dumb enough to let his stupid grades in the way of his future.

He walked into the main office and sat down next to a kid with blonde hair who looked even more nervous than Jean himself.

_He either tried to set the school on fire or isn't used to being in trouble._

Jean side glance to the boy and recalled his name. Armin Arlert, the genius junior-who-skipped-a-grade-and-is-now-a-senior who he had Calc with the previous year. He was childhood friends with that shithead Yeager and his sister Mikasa. Jean had hit on her once, very stubbly and that's when they started their rivalry.

_Yeah, he isn't used to being here._

"Mr. Kirschstein, Principal Dot is ready for you now." Gunther Schultz called. Gunther was 2 years older than Jean and was one of the Football Captains who went to the community college and had an internship at the school. He had gotten a partial scholarship to some prestigious college but forgot to sign his paper work and lost it.

"Hey, calm down you probably didn't do anything wrong." Jean whispered to the small blonde sitting next to him before he got up. He slung his bag on his shoulder and stood up. "Thanks Schultz, tell your girl I said hi."

"Sure thing Jean, get yourself out of whatever trouble you're in okay? The team needs you." Gunther said sitting back down.

Jean walked into the principal's office, nervous as he's ever been.

"Mr. Kirschstein! Good to see you!" the principal shouted, "You know more than anyone that I love soccer."

Oh boy did he, the man had nearly broken a hip jumping around in his ridiculously outdated and short soccer shorts when they had won the championships last year. "Yes I do sir."

"Oh stop with the formality son! It's Pixis to the stars of this school!" The principal shouted again

"Well then, um, Principal Pixis-"

"Just Pixis my boy." The old man interrupted.

"Right. Um, with all due respect, could you get to the point? I was pulled out of Coach's class and he was pretty piss- um, mad at the thought of me being in enough trouble to miss tomorrow's game."

"Alright boy, the thing is,"

_Oh god, I'm not going to be able to play, this will be the first game I've ever missed. They might lose, they probably won't but if they do? My entire career could be over before it even starts._

Jean pictured being hit in the face with a soccer ball that had 'History and English' written on the side of it and getting a concussion.

"You know Trost's grading standards for being on a team right, my boy?"

_Oh shit, here it comes._ "Yes I do." Jean cleared his throat. _My dream of being the next Gareth Bale or Neymar Jr. is over, I'm done._

"Recite it for me."

"However, in order to participate in a sport, the player must not be failing a subject or have lower than a C average in 2 classes."

"You have a D in Honors U.S. History and a C- in Honors English IV, not to mention the teetering C you have in Art I."

"Are you kicking me off the team?" Jean felt like he was going to piss himself, his whole future was on the line because of his stupid classes.

"No," Jean felt the weight of 5 universes lift from his shoulders, "But!" 2 of them fell back on.

"If it were anyone else you would be off no questions asked. Since you are the only captain, the team is riding on you."

"Please never say that again." Jean muttered.

"But rules are rules, so you will have to be tutored after school." That Armin kid being outside finally made sense to him now. Pixis pressed a button on the phone on his desk and told Gunther to let Armin in the room.

He walked in minutes later and sat down next to Jean looking rather sick.

"It's fine you aren't in trouble." Jean said putting a hand on Armin's shoulder. The kid calmed down a bit.

"Armin Arlert! Smartest kid in school! How are you?" Pixis shouted yet again.

"Um, I, um," he still looked nervous.

"Pixis, I'm not trying to disrespect you but the longer coach waits, the more students have to suffer." Jean said saving Armin from having to answer the flamboyant principal.

"Right, sorry son, Armin, Jean here is failing to many classes to continue playing soccer-"

"I'm not failing any classes actually."

"Right, sorry son, his grades are not good enough to continue playing soccer."

"That didn't make it sound any better." Jean said under his breath sinking into his chair slightly, earning a giggle from Armin who had calmed down a considerable amount.

"Since Jean is the only captain, the whole team is riding him to victory," Jean groaned.

"Please, I mean it, don't say that again. Ever." Jean said while Armin tried not to laugh.

"I don't see what wrong with saying that they are riding y-"

"Don't. Do not say it again. Please." Armin almost lost it.

_How does this man not understand he's making an innuendo?_

"Fine, Armin? Would you tutor Jean? He needs help in U.S. History and English IV. You have the highest marks in every class, except Physics, which Jean somehow does."

"Yes I will, when do we start?" Jean sighed he was saved; his figurative English and History soccer ball of death had missed his head.

"Today immediately after school, since this is solely circumstantial, we must take immediate action."

"Pixis, I have to object. I have to be at practice before it starts, at least to tell the guys what drills to do."

"Armin would you mind waiting?"

"He doesn't have to wait, he can just come with me."

"Alright, it's settled. Now go tell Erwin before he accidentally maims a student." Pixis stated opening the door for the 2 boys.

Pixis shut the door and both Jean and Armin took a deep breath before Jean grabbed Armin by the shoulders and hugged him.

"Thank you so much, you are like tiny, genius, blonde god right now." Jean said hugging the smaller boy. Then he took into consideration how weird Armin must have been feeling right now so he relinquished his hold on the blonde. "Sorry, but seriously thanks."

"N-no problem." Armin said with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Meet me after school in here, seriously thank you. I gotta go tell Coach now before he gets to angry. Bye! And like I said, meet me here." Jean said in a rush, leaving the office and speed walking back to class, leaving a blushing Armin in the office.

"He's got a lot of energy, that's why he plays sports. You'll get used to it, don't worry." Gunther told Armin.

* * *

Jean walked back into the classroom and was greeted with the anxious stares of the small Physics class.

"So dumbass what happened?" Erwin whispered to Jean.

"I'm allowed to play." As he finished his sentence the vein in Erwin's forehead decreased in size. "But I'm going to have to miss practice for a while, I'll stop by and tell the boys what to do before practice starts, I'll practice when I'm done."

Erwin's forehead vein popped slightly again. "Alright, I'll leave the turf open and the equipment out for you. But you have to put it back and lock up, alright dumbass?" Erwin said pulling his keys out and giving them to Jean.

"Yes coach." He said before returning to his desk and finishing the 4 problems he had left on his paper.

* * *

"What happened Armin?" Eren asked his friend who had just come back from the office.

"Nothing bad, I just need to tutor someone." Armin began to blush recalling Jean hugging him.

"Oi, are you blushing? Who is it that got you all hot and bothered?" Eren asked

"Eren! Don't say something like that!" Armin reprimanded his friend

"Yeah, I'm sorry. So who's the lucky guy?" Armin was in the closet to everyone except for his grandpa, Eren, and Mikasa. That didn't mean kids didn't call him a faggot because of his looks and harass him. He liked Jean for that, he was one of the only popular kids that didn't tease him. It was mainly the football team that were jerks to him. Eren was openly gay but no one said anything because Eren would punch them until a tooth fell out, Armin would not.

"Jean." Armin said quietly.

"Horse face?! Sarah?!" Eren exclaimed silently. "You're kidding me? You have a crush on Sarah Jessica Parker?"

"No I don't as a matter of fact. He just hugged me and it makes me blush. There's nothing wrong with Jean by the way, he's very nice. He's never picked on me." Armin said back to Eren.

* * *

The bell signaling for 8th period's end rang and both boys headed for the main office.

"Hey Armin."

"Hi Jean."

"Well off to the locker room, it'll only take me about 5 minutes." Jean smiled as he opened the door for Armin.

"Okay, thanks."

"I should be the one thanking you, if you said no my dream to be a pro footb- uh sorry, soccer player would be dead."

"Actually, if I said no they probably would have made someone else do it, you're too valuable to the team."

"Wow. Thanks Armin, that means a lot." Jean said feeling good about himself, so he ruffled Armin's hair. If Armin had anything to learn aside from Jean being a soccer prodigy (which anyone who watched him play could tell), it was that he was a very touchy person.

"I'll be right out." Jean said to him disappearing behind the locker room door.

"What do we have here?" Armin heard a boy say.

"A little gay boy, probably trying to figure out how he should peep on us."

"Please stop, I'm not doing anything." Armin pleaded.

"Not yet you weren't. I think we should teach Fag Boy here a lesson." The boy said pounding his fist into his hand.

* * *

**Well there's the prologue. The rest of the story after this WILL BE IN ARMIN'S POV. So people that hate soccer won't have to deal with me talking about it in that much detail anyway.**

**Please, please, PLEASE review, it mean's a lot to me and I'm open to any suggestions you guys may have**


	2. Holden

I was scared; I don't even know this kid, any of these kids actually. The bullying had not been as bad this year as it was sophomore and junior year, mainly because Eren and Mikasa transferred from St. Maria's Private school-well Eren was kicked out from starting too many fights- to Trost for their senior year after their father lost his job so normally they were there with me whenever there was a chance of me getting bullied. I've known them since we were kids so they protected me like I was their own brother and I'm really grateful for that. I know Jean is just in the locker room but i don't know how long it would take him to tell the team what they needed to do at practice.

"I think a nice hard hit in the face should be enough to teach him not to look in the locker room to get his kicks." The boy with brown hair said walking closer.

"I-I wasn't, I," I couldn't talk. I had gotten so used to this not happening that it was worse than I remembered.

"Shut up faggot!" The brown haired guy yelled and his friends laughed, all coming closer. One of them kicked me in the shin while the boy wound his arm up to punch me in the face and I shut my eyes and braced myself for the hit.

"Hey, fuck off of him you fucking assholes," I heard Jean say pushing the brown haired guy away from me and then picked up my bag from the ground. "He's not doing anything he's just waiting for me. Go bother your teammates now. Jesus." He said handing me my bag. The group of boys walked into the locker room embarrassed, Jean was probably the most popular kid in school whether he knew it or not, and if he didn't like you, then most people didn't.

"Sorry Jean." I said hanging my head, I felt bad for him that he had to do that for me.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, they're just a bunch of dicks." Jean clenched a fist at his side and held his backpack strap with the other. "I swear, if I wasn't trying to stay out of trouble I would have beat the shit out of all of them."

"You didn't have to do that though." I said when we started walking to the library, really it wasn't his problem.

"You're kidding right? Of course I did, no one deserves to have those things said to them, true or not. I just wish you would've stuck up for yourself." He said

"…Sorry."

"Like I said, you don't have to be sorry." He said opening the library door for me, I repeated 'Sorry' under my breath.

This conversation could continue again never, I had to tutor him now.

We sat down at a table next to the non-fiction books and Jean got his textbooks and homework out. I know he won't give me a hard time because he wanted to get in the clear so he could play soccer without worrying. Everyone in the school knew who Jean was and everyone knew the basics, even the new girl Krista knew the basics.

Number 1, Jean Erik Kirschstein was his full name; number 2, his favorite color was periwinkle; number 3, he spoke fluent German (he normally spoke it when he was angry to avoid getting in trouble in class); number 4, he was a soccer prodigy/god (Trost was a large school and he started Varsity freshman year); number 5, he was intent on being a pro soccer player.

"Your lowest grade is in History so do you want to start there? Or do you want to clear your English grade first?" I asked him, Jean looked pretty irritated just thinking about it.

"Can we focus on my English grade?"

"Okay, what are you guys doing?"

"Catcher in the Rye." I laughed a little, Jean reminded me of Holden from the first chapter, getting kicked out of school for bad grades. "I don't understand this question." Jean stated pointing at a question.

"'What is the significance of the carousel in Chapter 25?'"

"Yeah, it's just a carousel. I don't get it." He said looking frustrated out of his mind already. "Ugh, I'm such an idiot."

"Jean don't say that, English isn't everyone's thing." I encouraged him. "Think of it this way, Holden states that Phoebe protested riding the carousel saying that she is too big but he buys her a ticket anyway because he knows that she really does want to ride it. However he himself doesn't ride it, showing he recognizes that he's an adult, even though he may not particularly accept it."

I looked back at him to see if he understood but he was just staring at me in awe. I held my breath and felt the heat on my cheeks and the tips of my ears.

"Uh, J-Jean?" I stuttered feeling kind of embarrassed, why was he looking at me like that?

"Um, sorry, it's just why a teacher can't give me an answer like that when I ask for help, I don't know. Thanks Armin." He laughed taking his paper back and writing the answer down and continuing to do a couple more, skipping around the packet.

"Why is Holden an unreliable narrator?" he asked me after finishing most of the packet, save for the vocab section.

"He with holds a lot of information, right?" I asked and Jean nodded in agreement "So, in order to really understand his character you had to look at his actions towards other people."

"Like when he talks about how Maurice beat and robbed him. He says that he thought he was dying and imagines being a movie hero and seeking revenge, but he really never describes how he feels."

"Right, good job." I was really impressed by how quickly he caught on to what I said. Honestly he must not have a good teacher because he seems to be doing just fine with me.

"That's because my tutor is better than my teacher." He replied smirking and writing his answer down. He then reached up and ruffled my hair. I felt another blush coming up to my cheeks so I looked away from him. I'm not used to touchy people because Eren and Mikasa aren't big on physical contact and my grandpa was my grandpa so it didn't make me feel weird at all. I barely knew Jean, that's the only reason I'm acting so weird about it.

"Armin what does 'give her the time' mean?" he asked me, looking up from the paper.

"I-It means to um, h-have s-sex with her, wh-whoever her is." I said as my blush got deeper. Jean began to chuckle. "You knew what that meant didn't you!" I yelled as quietly as I could and Jean broke out in actual laughter.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he laughed while recovering from his breakdown, "I saw that you were already blushing so I just decided to be an ass and add to it. Sorry, you're just cute when you're flustered." He nonchalantly stated. Once again I looked like a tomato, I can't believe he just called me cute! I doubt he even realized he said it too. He didn't look remotely embarrassed.

"S-so, history?" I asked

"Ugh, I hate history. But okay, we're talking about the U.S. involvement in WWII." Jean said, the irritatation taking place on his face again. "I have a quiz tomorrow, shit."

"Do you have a review?"

"Yeah, hold on I'll get it out."

"Look over it and then I'll quiz you."

He took about 5 minutes and gave the sheet to me. "This should be fine it's a really short quiz."

"Yeah, that makes it easier to fail." Jean sighed

"Alright. Before the U.S. entered the war they gave tanks and guns to Britain so they could fight the Germans. What was this act called?"

"Uh, I don't know."

"Just guess."

"The Manhattan Project?"

"No, it's the Lend Lease act." Jean once again had an angered expression on his face.

"Next question, what triggered the U.S. to enter the war?"

"The attack on Pearl Harbor, easy." Jean said regaining confidence as I nodded.

"Where did the U.S. drop the atomic bombs?"

"Japan."

"Yes, but what cities?"

"Uh, Hirosaki and Nagashima?"

"It's Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What did they call the plan to drop the bombs?"

"Okay, this is The Manhattan Project." I nodded.

We finished the review and he only had a couple questions we had to go over.

"Gee, thanks for the help Armin, really." He thanked me

"No problem Jean."

"You know what you're a really cool guy, come watch the soccer game tomorrow. If you don't have plans that is." He told me. I don't know what the heck is wrong with me but Jean has made me blush more in one day than I have in the past 2 years.

"Um, yeah. I will if I can get a ride. Thanks."

"Wait, do you have a ride back home?"

"No, I'll just walk home, its fine really."

"God, feel like an ass for keeping you past the bus times. Are your friend here to walk with you?"

"No, I can walk home alone its really okay Jean."

"Nope, uh-uh, no way, nicht, not after what happened when I was in the library. I'll drive you home, I'm not letting some football assholes try to beat you up again." Something about the way Jean said that made me blush, again for god's sakes! "Do you mind watching me practice or practicing with me? I can just take you home first if you'd like."

"Jean, you really don't need to do this if you don't want to."

"Of course I want to. Do you mind waiting?"

"No I don't mind." I really don't know why he's being so nice to me, he barely knows me. I've known that he's a nice guy from Calculus with him last year, but I didn't think he'd be this friendly to me.

"Alright, I need to change first and then I'll practice as fast as I can for you."

"Jean there is no need to rush yourself, especially for me."

"Armin, you are really the best. I can't believe we never talked last year." He said the last part to himself mainly.

We walked to the locker room and Jean pulled his duffel out from the shower area that no one ever uses. I sat down on the bench and waited as Jean pulled out his clothes, shin guards, socks, and cleats.

"Nice huh?" he said as he held up his cleats, which were in fact pretty nice. "I worked extra for these babies."

Without warning Jean took his shirt off, and I couldn't bring myself to look away. Jean was pretty ripped. Not only did he play soccer for the school, but he played it year round on some amazing travel team, alternated between swimming and track every year for the winter season, and played baseball in the spring. Suddenly I started to think of Jean wearing baseball pants. I wiped that from my mind as fast as possible. Jean still had his shirt off and I saw he had a tattoo on his shoulder. He started unbuckling the belt to his uniform and I looked away, I definitely didn't not need to think of that when I couldn't get the image of his bare chest and torso out of my mind. It was not the time to be thinking of Jean, who I obviously had a small crush on now, like that while he was standing 4 feet away from me, half naked might I add.

"You okay Armin?" he questioned me, I turned around to see him just pulling up his shorts, my cheeks got hot again, my face was probably as red as Eren's hair the on time Mikasa and I decided to bleach it and dye it while he was gaga from having his wisdom teeth taken out.

"Um yeah, it's just hot in here." I lied; no way was I telling him I was gay and currently enjoying the sight of him with no shirt on.

"Yeah, it does get kind of hot in here." Jean said absentmindedly while pulling his socks over his shin guards, still wearing no shirt may I add. I turned around again until he said he was ready. Once again, he had his shirt, a water bottle, and the keys to the field, still not wearing his shirt.

It's not like it was a bad view or anything, it was the exact opposite in fact, but I would rather not lose my reasonable explanation of it being hot in the locker room. Thank god he started to put it on as we were walking onto the field.

Jean ran a mile, in 5 minutes flat, did a few sprints and a couple other running exercises for agility. He practiced maneuvering around the field and set up penalty kicks. He probably would have lost track of time if he didn't look over at me.

"Sorry you had to stay and wait for me." He laughed as we walked off of the turf. He put the balls down and locked the turf up.

"Its fine, it's fun to watch you play," I realized how that sounded pretty weird, "I-I read several chapter in my book too, so." I tried to save myself. Jean just laughed a little and went into the locker room to get his stuff.

"Ready to go?" he asked pulling his car keys out of his duffel.

"Yeah, thanks again Jean."

"C'mon, if anyone should be thanking anyone it should be me thanking you. You're really saving my ass here. When I'm a pro foo-soccer player I'll have you to thank."

"I like how it's odd for you to say soccer instead of football." I said before I realized I had even opened my mouth. "Uh, sorry." I apologized while the tips of my ears got hot for the up-tenth time today.

"Haha, really? It bothers most people. Coach hates it, and I'm pretty sure it bugs Marco too." He said starting the car. Marco was Jean's best friend; he was one of the baseball captains with Jean, though Marco was better than Jean by a little. Marco was definitely the nicest guy I have ever met in my life, the baseball team even called him Freckled Jesus. "My dad is the reason I love the sport so much. We would always talk about it in German because my mom didn't really want to hear about it. It's been 5 years but I don't really want to break the habit you know?" Jean's tone was nostalgic as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Yeah, I get it." I really didn't understand why he was telling me this. Jean's dad had passed away 5 years ago from leukemia.

"Uh, what street do you live on?" Jean asked after clearing his throat, I could tell he was getting too emotional for his own liking.

"I live a couple houses down from Marco." I answered.

"Oh okay."

We talked about several different things before we reached my house. I told him thanks again and was about to get out of the car when he grabbed my hand. I knew I was getting red again.

"Armin, seriously, come to the game tomorrow night. I'll look for you."

"I'll try." I said before nodding frantically. I got out and closed the car door and walked to my front door. I knew I looked like a tomato when I turned around and waved goodbye before opening the door and walking in. I heard Jean put the car into drive and leave once I was inside.

"Hi Armin, how was your day?" My grandpa said from the kitchen.

"Okay." I replied walking into the kitchen.

"Just okay? What happened?" he asked me

"I have a crush Grandpa." I knew he was going to ask why that was such a bad thing, "On a straight boy."

"Oh, I see. Tell me who it is at least?"

"The guy who dropped me off, Jean Kirschstein, the soccer captain, the most popular kid in school."

"Oh boy."

"You sound like Holden Caulfield."

* * *

**Wow, sorry for all the dialogue. I would like to thank Sparknotes for most of the knowledge of Catcher in the Rye. I've kind of shaped Jean after me in the academics. I hate history and English, they're the only classes I get B's in, so why not make Jean suck horribly at them**

**Once again, reviews keep me going!**


	3. Blushing too much

"Armin!" I heard Eren yell from up the street as I was walking to the bus stop.

"Hi Eren, where's Mikasa?" I greeted him when he caught up to me.

"She's running a pretty high fever so the old man is making her stay home." He answered, he seemed pretty jittery, I mean more so than usual.

"That's terrible. Are you suggesting she wanted to come to school?"

"Yeah, Mikasa's pretty weird about her grades, she as to have an A in everything. I guess the stereotypes are true." The Yeager's adopted Mikasa when she was 4 from a small, rundown village in Japan. "So, do I have to beat him up?" Eren questioned rather excitedly.

"Who are you talking about?" I had a feeling he was talking about Jean, but he also might have heard about the kid that Jean stopped from hurting me.

"Horseface, who else?" he questioned, probably looking for a reason to start a fight with him. "Was he a jerk? Did he make fun of you? Did he try to hurt you?" yep, he was definitely looking for a reason to fight, Eren has had pretty terrible anger issues his entire life.

"I don't know why you hate Jean so much."

"He's a rude jerk that's why."

"Eren, he is probably the second nicest person I know other than Marco. Are you sure it's not because he told Mikasa she was pretty earlier this year?" Eren made an embarrassed/angered expression and knew I hit the nail on the head. "He actually saved me from a group of bullies yesterday, for your information."

"What? Who tried to hurt you?" he said getting mad, I probably shouldn't have told him that but I got this weird urge to defend Jean.

"Honestly I don't even know who they were, but Jean told them to leave and they did."

"He just told him to leave? That's it?"

"Well no, he did use some profanities and he may have shoved them."

"Well maybe horseface isn't that bad but I still don't like him. He gave me a black eye you know." Eren proclaimed.

"Eren, he didn't give you that. You got it trying to hit him but he moved out of the way and you ran into a chair." I wasn't there to see it but Mikasa told me that it happened in metal shop and it was pretty painful to watch, Jean offered to take Eren to the nurse but Eren swatted his hand away and said he was fine.

"I was his fault though." He scoffed and I laughed at him.

We ended up walking to school in a comfortable silence. Until Eren tripped over a raised part of the sidewalk and wiped out completely and I laughed at him uncontrollably that is.

We were walking to the front door of the school when I saw Jean get out of his truck. He saw me and waved. I waved back blushing slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by Eren.

"Armin do you have a crush on horseface?" he asked me with a weird look on his face. "You were super defensive about him this morning."

"N-no, Eren I don't know why you would think that." It was probably the worst lie that has ever left me lips and you bet your butt Eren saw through it. "Alright, fine. I like him, but not that much, so you can stop thinking whatever you are thinking."

"Hey, Armin! Wait up!" I heard Jean yell as he jogged up to the front door. Eren turned around and groaned.

"Hi Jean." I smiled at him and he smiled back before Eren spoke.

"What do you want Sarah?" he asked Jean, who glared at him and looked back to me.

"After school today just wait in the library for me and I'll be there after I tell the guys what to do, I don't want a repeat of yesterday, okay?" he said to me looking slightly angered by the thought of the 3 football players.

"Yeah, sure thing." I answered

"You're going to come tonight, right?" he asked about the soccer game, but Eren didn't know that. If Jean made me blush anymore today I might as well just tell him that I like him because I think that it's pretty obvious.

Eren looked nauseous.

"Y-yeah, I will."

"Alright, I'll see you after school. Bye!" He said then went in the direction of his homeroom.

"Um, Armin, what was he talking about tonight?" Eren looked like he was going to vomit and then pass out, serves him right for being a pervert.

"That's not what he meant, stop thinking like that. He asked me to come to his game tonight." I said as Eren's overactive dirty mind slowed and he looked healthy again.

"Are you really going to go?" Eren asked in disbelief.

"Yes, tonight's Alumni night so might see my friend Bertholdt there anyway."

"Well… I'm going too." I gave Eren a skeptical look. Eren didn't like sports, at all. He doesn't play them, he doesn't watch them, and he doesn't enjoy them. "What? I don't want you to be alone."

If I knew Eren, which I did, he was probably going to see if he could find any cute guys.

We walked into homeroom and sat down. "Alright. It's at 7, just stop at my house on your way there."

* * *

I walked to the library after 8th period and sat at the same table as we did yesterday. I pulled out my book and read until Jean got there.

"Guess what." Jean said startling me having just gotten there. "I got an 80 on my History quiz."

"Good job Jean! Do you have any homework or class work that you need to do?"

"No, I finished my Catcher in the Rye packet yesterday when I got home and it's due tomorrow and we just took notes in History. But I should probably review that packet for the test."

"Do you want help?" I asked putting my book down.

"For the definitions, that would be great." He said loosening his tie and handing me his packet.

"'Phony'?"

"Pretentious or hypocritical."

"'That killed me'?"

"I found that hilarious."

"'Flit'?"

"Homosexual."

"'Snowing'?"

"Sweet-talking."

"'Crumby'?"

"Disappointing or inadequate."

"'Chew the fat'?"

"Uh, small talk?" I nodded

"'Shoot the bull'?"

"Bullshitting in a conversation."

"Jean, something you could say on the test." He laughed and then gave me a sufficient answer. "'I got a bang out of that'?"

"I found that hilarious."

"'G-give her th-the time'?" Jean didn't say anything, he just waggled his eyebrows and I left it at that.

"Half of that vocab isn't even outdated anyway, I always say 'that killed me', 'crumby', and 'phony'." He said leaning back in his chair. "Well that's it for the day."

"Shouldn't you go to practice?"

"Nah, I told them to run a mile and do their agility exercises. I did all of that yesterday, since it's a night game we practice right before the game starts." He yawned, "I'd much rather spend time with you though."

I pulled my book up higher so he couldn't see my face and replied with an 'oh'. I swear, he knows I like him and is trying to embarrass me. I decided to switch the topic by asking about the game. I could tell he was excited for it so we wouldn't drift back to the previous topic.

"Stohess is our rival and the team that doesn't qualify will be laughed at by the other so we have to win." Whenever Jean spoke about soccer, you could see the passion in his eyes, I really enjoyed that. "I know that they are expecting us to play the same way we did last year with the same setup so I convinced Coach that we should switch out positions for this game, we've been practicing it for the last 30 minutes of practice for the past week because this game is one of our most important since this is our last qualification round for knock outs and we need to win because we lost our last game."

I had heard that Jean hurt his leg somewhere in the last game and had to come out. Jean was able to talk about soccer for hours I swear. I liked to watch the tournaments they had on TV like the world cup and the setup for the State championships was generally the same.

"Instead of just playing as a striker or a winger tonight, I'm going to play false 9 or false 10, it really depends on Coach and how the other team is practicing though. That way Stohess won't know what hit they're snobby rich faces. Those asses like to play dirty sometimes." I honestly couldn't wait to watch him play tonight, he seemed so excited. I honestly had no clue what a false 9 or 10 was but he looked cute talking about it.

"Didn't you break the 100 goal mark last year?" I asked him, the team was undefeated last year because Levi and Jean had this weird connection where they just knew what the other was thinking, Connie told me that it wasn't even stuff they went over in practice and it was amazing to be on the same team as them because they were like the 'Bale-Ronaldo or Neymar- Messi duos in La Liga', I don't really know who those players are but Jean had said something about a Gareth Bale a minute ago, anyway Connie said they were a duo made in soccer heaven.

"Yeah, the school record was set be Coach when he was a senior with 132 and I'm only 2 away from it. He told me that if I broke it today then he would exempt my lowest test grade."

"Wow. You have me excited for the game with all of this. It sucks that Mr. Smith isn't your history teacher." Jean laughed.

"I love Mrs. Bodt and she's a great teacher but history is just so damn hard." He said messing with his tie again. He noticed that I was watching him fiddle with it and then spoke, "Casual Friday is my favorite day; I hate these stupid uniforms."

"I can tell." I laughed and Jean smiled at me.

"Oh yeah, if we win tonight then we'll have to leave early for our next game, can I have your phone number so we can figure out when to that session up."

"Uh- yeah, I-I'll write it down." I was just expecting him to skip the sessions honestly, why would he want to spend more time with me than necessary? He took the paper from me when I was done and put it in his wallet.

"Cool, I'll text you. I think we should probably go home now." He grabbed his things and stood up, I did the same and we walked outside together. I stopped and leaned against the railing to wait for the bus then Jean stopped walking. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm going to wait for the bus."

"No, come on I'll take you home."

"Jean, that's just going out of your way."

"I don't mind, really, it's fine."

He talked about the other team and their good players and how they were most like likely going to one man mark him. I liked that Jean knew he was the best player on the team but he didn't have an ego because of it. He apologized a couple times for continuing to talk about soccer but I told him that it was fine and I actually liked to listen to him talk about it. If Eren saw me acting as head over heels as I was right now he would probably vomit and say 'seriously Armin, Horseface?' and then make a comment about why he didn't like Jean.

My grandpa was out on the porch when he pulled up to my house. Grandpa waved and walked up to the truck as I was getting out.

"So you're Jean?" he asked

"In the flesh, sir." Jean answered

"Well as you could probably tell I'm Armin's grandpa. Nice to meet you."

"You too, Mr. Arlert."

"Armin tells me you're quite the soccer player." My face went red, does my grandpa not know his boundaries?

"Yes sir, I have our final playoff game tonight. I hope you'll let Armin go?"

"Of course I will! Would you like a drink Jean?" What is he doing! He's trying to kill me!

"I would say yes but I need to get home to my mom so she doesn't get worried, I left my phone on the counter this morning."

"That's fine boy, you're welcome anytime." I've decided that Grandpa is in fact trying to kill me and tell Jean that I like him at the same time.

"Thanks Mr. Arlert, I should get going now. I better see you at the game tonight Armin! I'll look for you." He laughed. I nodded and said goodbye with Grandpa as Jean left.

"Grandpa!" I yelled once Jean was down the street, "Are you trying to embarrass me to death!"

"No I'm not Armin. You're doing that yourself by blushing every time he looks at you." Grandpa laughed, "I like him."

"Grandpa, I told you already, he's straight."

"I'll tell you one thing and one thing only Armin, that boy has a crush on you too, whether he knows it or not, that much is obvious." Once again I was blushing because of Jean Kirschstein.

I blush too much, for my own good.

* * *

**Thanks for reading again, I'm going on vacation soon (the 20****th**** I think) and there may not be a computer for me to use but I'll update as soon I'm back**

**I already have the next chapter written so I'll post it the day I leave**

**Reviews are always appreciated **


	4. Oh my god

I was pacing around my room and lying on my bed for about 3 hours. Should I change? No, he's not going to notice stupid he's playing. Should I even go? You have to stupid, Eren's going and Grandpa would make you anyway.

"What am I so nervous for, it's not like he's going to notice that I'm there." I said to myself sitting on the edge of my bed. "Oh yeah, I have a crush on him."

I didn't know that it was possible for me to act this stupid but then again I've never had an actual crush on anyone before, Jean is my first. A straight, popular guy, of all things! I don't even think I would be able to tell him that I'm gay anyway. Telling Eren was probably the scariest thing ever, and it was much unexpected that I was met with a 'that's cool so am I'.

I laid back and closed my eyes.

"Armin, Armin? Armin!" I woke up to Eren screaming my name.

"Wha-what time is it? When did you get here?" I said sitting up stiffly, I really did not like being woken up.

"It's like 7:34 or something, I just got here like a minute ago."

"Eren! The game started 30 minutes ago!" I was kind of mad that I wasn't being able to watch Jean play the whole game, well I mean, he did want me too. "Gosh, we better leave now so we can get there before half time is over." I glared daggers at Eren who gave me a dumb look in return.

* * *

Thankfully we got there before half time was over with about a minute to spare.

"Wow." Eren said staring wide-eyed at the turf, I could only guess what he meant by that but I was about to figure out in about 4 seconds. "I need to come to more soccer games, I mean dang." I figured he was talking about the players.

When I looked back from Eren to the field I saw Jean looking around the bleachers. He can't seriously be looking for me can he? I repressed the blush that was about to come from that thought, but when Jean saw me and smiled and waved, it came in twice as worse at it would have been before. I waved back to him as the players took their positions on the field.

The scoreboard said that the game was 0 home, 1 away. Stohess started with the ball and passed it back to their left inner defensemen who passed it to the outer left defensemen. He attempted to pass it to an offensive player on our side of the field, but Connie had challenged said player and won the ball. He passed it to the right side of the field to Thomas who then passed it up towards the middle to Franz. Franz was about 6 feet across from Jean, whom he passed to. Jean passed it back to Franz after getting closer to the goal and once Jean was about 3 yards from the box Franz passed it back to him. Jean ran up with the ball until he was 3 feet behind and to the left of the penalty spot and took a shot right as a defender tried to get the ball from him.

Goal #131 for Jean, he only had 2 more to go before he broke the record. Trost Titans 1, Stohess 1.

After about 3 minutes of Stohess passing the ball around their defense, they passed it up to one of their mids who passed to a winger that made a breakaway and nearly scored. Nac punted the ball up to Daz, a mid, who then passed to Jean, who was back pretty deep for his position. I guess he was playing one of those 'false' positions he was talking about earlier. When a defender had moved to, who had moved up to challenge Jean created a hole in Stohess' defense, he passed it back to Daz who had made his way to the area the defender had left open. Jean ran into the box as Daz passed it to Samuel, the winger. Sam kicked the ball overhead to Jean but the goalie for Stohess had run up and jumped to catch it before Jean could receive it, elbowing Jean in the forehead pretty hard in to process. The ref had blown the whistle and Mr. Smith and the trainer, Mr. Ness, came onto the field.

The crowd went silent, even Sasha. Everyone was able to see that blood when Jean removed his hand from his head. I looked to Eren and even he looked concerned, Mr. Smith looked like he was going to have a heart attack. We saw Jean nod 'yes' to Mr. Ness and he poured some water on the injury and wiped the blood off. Jean stood and the entire team looked relieved. The referee made a hand signal and the Stohess team looked nervous. I realized it was a penalty kick when the goalie put the ball on the hash mark.

The ref started talking to Jean, presumably about whether he could continue to play or not, and then walked to the side of the box. Jean walked over to the box and stopped about 5 yards directly behind the ball, he was taking the shot. It was still silent, the ref blew his whistle and Jean made a large shuffling movement to the right 3 times, he ran to the ball and kicked it with his left foot. The crowd went insane.

132, one more to go.

At about the 20 minute mark of the half, Stohess had scored another goal.

The last 30 seconds of the game was crazy. Nac had caught another goal attempt from Stohess. Jeans playing had been obviously affected by the blow to the head he took. 23 seconds, 22 seconds, 21 seconds, Nac punted the ball to Jean, who was the highest player up at the moment. He had received the ball with his chest. Stohess was playing for the tie, so they had both wingers marked by at least 2 players. There was not enough time left to pass back and be able to score so Jean took the ball up the field himself. Three of Stohess' defenders went to challenge him; with some fancy move Jean cleared the first boy.

10 seconds, 9 seconds, everyone was on the edge of the bleachers, even Eren.

One of the defenders picked Jean's right ankle in an attempt to trip him and the other was ready to take the ball once he fell, he faltered but kept his balance and kept moving.

8 seconds, 7 seconds, 6 seconds, the last defender made an attempt to slide and kick the ball away from Jean's reach. 5 seconds, 4 seconds, right as his foot was about to touch the ball, Jean squeezed the ball between his feet/ankles and jumped over the defenders legs. The goalie was completely unprepared as Jean moved up further, no more defensemen in his way.

3 seconds, 2 seconds, Jean took the shot.

1.

132.

The crowd was in absolute stand still, shock washed over everyone. The buzzer rang signaling the end of the game.

133.

Everyone stood and went completely crazy. I was screaming, Eren was screaming, Sasha was flailing all over the place and screaming, for god's sakes even Annie Leonhardt was screaming. The entire Stohess team was in shock with their jaws hanging. Jean was taking his victory run, he jumped in the air, screaming and jabbing his chest with his index finger and the Entire team ran and dog piled on top of him.

Mr. Smith grabbed Mr. Ness by the shoulders and screamed.

The energy was like nothing I had ever experienced before. The team was still screaming and removing themselves from each other when the crowd ran on to the field. I saw Jean before the nearly the entire school, save for Annie, Eren, Marco, Krista, and myself dog piled on him.

I could've sworn he looked directly at me and winked.

Eren and I decided to start walking back home before everyone was squeezing out of the exit all at once.

"Holy shit." Eren said out of nowhere when we were about half way home.

"What?"

"Well, I knew Sarah was good and that he was the best on the team, but I didn't know he was _that_ good. That was absolutely fucking insane!" he yelled

"Is he good enough for you to stop calling him Sarah?" I asked, really, I think Jean was fine with horseface, but he was almost at the end of the straw with Sarah.

"Yeah, I guess he is." Eren sighed, we got to my house and said our goodbyes. Once I made it to my door I heard Eren yell, "Oh, by the way I saw that wink too."

I think my face is on fire.

* * *

I waited in the library for Jean when I saw a book about the ocean that looked really cool, so I took it to the librarian to check it out.

"Armin!" I hear a yell from Jean as he swung the doors open. I hadn't seen him since before the giant school dog pile.

"Jean, what are you-" I stopped short on account of papers being shoved in my face.

"My satanic English teacher gave us the test today instead of Monday, and I aced it! One- Freakin'- Hundred!" he was yelling excitedly, I was surprised that the librarian wasn't hushing him. "And Coach told me in Physics that a professional, not college, but professional scout contacted him about me! A professional scout! Oh my god this is the best day of my life! Ugh, I just!"

Jean then grabbed me by the sides of my face and kissed my forehead.

"This was all you Armin! You are so amazing! Look, I don't have any-"

Whatever he continued to say went completely un-heard by me.

He. Just. Kissed. Me.

He just kissed me.

He just kissed me!

Oh my god, he just kissed me.

I was 150% sure that I was bright red. My stomach was eating itself. I saw him walk away after he was done talking, to excited about his day to notice.

This 'small crush' that I had on him had just evolved into a massive one.

* * *

**Hehe.**


	5. Texting

I took the bus home with Eren who had missed the first bus. I don't think it necessary to explain what the only thing I could think about was. I don't know how I could go from barely knowing Jean to having such a huge crush on him in only a matter of days. I saw him walking to his car with Marco as the bus started to leave.

"Armin what's up with you?" Eren asked. I just looked at him and looked at my book. "What? Did horseface kiss you or something?" my blush had never really left my face and it had just gotten worse, I tried to look back out the window and mutter a 'no'. Really, all of this blushing is just absurd.

Eren's face dropped and he stopped laughing.

"He didn't kiss you did he?" he said with a faltering grin.

"N-not exactly." I answered quietly

"What?! What does 'not exactly' mean?!"

"It was on my f-orehead. I-I don't even think he even n-noticed th-that he d-did it." I stuttered the truth to him, he did it so fast, he is a touchy-feely person (which in my case was not good for my health), and he was very excited about the scout, anyone really could have done that. "He was just really excited."

"Excited about what?! Armin is he coming onto you? I swear to god if he is I'll beat the shit out of him. That asshole is coming onto you isn't he? I'll kill him, I swear."

"Eren, what the heck, he-he is not coming onto me. Of course he isn't, he's the most popular guy in school, why would he." It was obviously the honest to god truth; Jean could probably have anyone in this school if he wanted to.

"Well if he ever-"

"He would never. Discussion over." I felt like there as a small pit in my stomach and a stinging at the corners of my eyes after that.

"Armin, did Dean piss in your cheerios again? Dang." My cat had urinated in my cereal when he was a kitten and Eren was there watching when it happened. Well, if you consider laughing with tears running down our face while your eyes are squeezed shut 'watching'.

"Eren shut up." The bus had stopped at our stop and we were walking home.

"What was horse face so excited about in the first place that made him kiss you?"

"There is a scout looking at him."

"Well I'm not a soccer expert or anything, but after that I wouldn't think that it was a shock that a scout was looking at him."

"It's a professional scout."

"Okay, I see now. But that scout isn't the only one with his eyes on him."

"What?"

"I know someone that likes Jean, a lot. I don't know what's wrong with them."

"Wha-what? Who?"

"It's pretty obvious," he sighed, who the heck else liked Jean, who am I kidding half the school does. "You do."

"E-Eren, no I don't." if you assume my cheeks are red for the hundredth time then you would be correct, in fact anytime you assume I'm blushing, I probably am.

"Haha, well I was just checking. Now I know you do."

Thank god it's Friday, I would not have been able to talk to Jean directly tomorrow.

"Bye Armin, see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, bye Eren."

I went into my room and laid on my bed. Dean came up and jumped on my stomach after a while.

"Hi Dean." He meowed back at me and sat down. Dean would definitely claw me if I tried to move right after he settled down so I just closed my eyes.

_Buzz. Buzz._

I woke up to the notifications on my phone. Dean was gone so I sat up and looked at my phone.

7:02 pm, 1 new message from Unknown.

I opened up the message.

**Hey Armin, it's Jean. Sorry about today, I wanted to tell Marco and then we went to get pizza after. We can reschedule today sometime this weekend right?**

I really didn't think Jean would be texting me to reschedule, like at all. My weekends are normally impromptu plans with Eren and Mikasa.

_Hi. I don't think missing today really matters all that much, you're getting the hang of everything pretty quickly missing one time won't matter._ Send.

I felt weirdly self conscious after sending that text was it too formal? Did I sound rude? Should I have worded it differently?

**Are you sure?** He responded about 5 minutes later

_Yeah it's fine, you probably have plans for this weekend anyway._

**I don't have any plans this weekend actually haha, we could still hang out this weekend if you want to**

What. I blinked at the message couple times. I really didn't know what to say to him.

_If you want to we can. _I answered back, was I supposed to feel this anxious texting someone?

**Are you doing anything on Saturday? **I have never felt this weird texting Eren or Mikasa before, I felt this weird feeling in my stomach and my palms were sweating.

_I don't think I am _I know I'm not doing anything, why on Earth did I lie?

**Well if you want to see a movie or anything we can **

I think I'm getting sick, my face felt hot, my palms were sweaty, and my stomach felt weird.

_Yeah, I'd just have to ask my grandpa._

**Get back to me soon haha. **

It was done, it was over. The strange feeling in my stomach left and I put the phone down and laid back. I let out a breath I don't remember holding in the first place.

"Talking to your boy friend Armin?" Grandpa said from the door.

"He-He's not my boyfriend!"

"Hahaha, whatever you say Armin." He said leaving my door frame before I could say anything.

_Buzz. Buzz._

I let out an 'eep' as my phone caught me off guard. Eren was normally asleep extremely early so I wasn't expecting a text from him.

**So wyd? **Jean, again, the same nervous feeling took over again.

_Nothing, I just finished my homework actually._

_I'm not doing anything on Saturday_

**Cool, ill just pick you up at ur house then, is 1 good?**

_Yeah thats good. what are we doing by the way?_

**I figured we would cross that bridge when we came to it.**

_okay, see you tmmr_

**yeah, goodnight armin**

_goodnight jean_

I let out a shaky breath. Why was talking to him so nerve racking.

"Grandpa?" I yelled, he was sometimes asleep at this time.

"Yes?"

"I'm leaving at 1 tomorrow."

"Okay, be back by 10:30 eh? Don't have too much fun on your date."

"Grandpa! It's not a date."

"Keep telling yourself that boy."

* * *

I was re-reading Cather in the Rye, it was about 1 AM. I couldn't sleep and I knew why. I was nervous, even though I shouldn't have been.

It was ridiculous really. I never have trouble sleeping, ever. I really don't

Here I was obsessing over tomorrow because I like Jean and I want him to like me too at 1 AM, while Jean was completely-I hope-oblivious to the fact I liked him and was more likely than not fast asleep probably dreaming about playing in the World Cup.

I was wondering what to wear like a teenage girl, and practicing lines in a mirror like a lovesick boy from a romance novel.

I couldn't help it. I really couldn't.

I knew the weird feeling in my stomach wasn't from hunger but I went to the kitchen to eat anyway.

I grabbed an apple and a water then went into my room.

I threw the apple core in the trash when i was finished with it and put the water on the night stand.

I pushed myself from the slouching position on my headboard and laid down after i finished Chapter 19.

I identified with Holden right now, I felt like I was having a mental breakdown.

Why did I ever have to get a dumb crush on Jean anyway.

I turned my attentions to the book on the ocean that I had checked out from the school's library. I had never been to the Ocean and I really would like too. Trost was just outside of Atlantic City, NJ.

My Grandpa was always too busy to take me and it would be too hard for him to walk down in the sand.

My parents were completely out of the picture too.

I had always imagined going with Eren and Mikasa if all of us saved for the gas money and swimwear too, I guess.

Thanking about the ocean had calmed me down quite a lot, so i played ocean sounds on YouTube and laid down. I really wondered what we were going to do tomorrow. To be completely honest with you, I don't get out that often. I really don't.

I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep, God knows what I would be doing tomorrow.

* * *

**Gosh sorry it took so long. Leave idea's for Jean and Armin's 'not a date' in the reviews or my PM's, I normally answer.**

**All those I really didn't 's and I really couldn't 's was jus me channeling Holden. If you've never read the book, then lets just say if i had a penny for everytime Holden said it I would probably be a millionare. **


	6. The 'not a date'

Grandpa woke me up at 9:30 so I could 'get ready for my date' as he put it.

I went back to sleep because i had deprived myself of a couple hours worth and set my alarm for 12:00 PM.

I was woken up 30 minutes earlier by a text message.

**1 new message from Eren.**

**we're going to the mall today with mikasa at 1:30.**

_Eren i already have plans thank you very much_

**oh. alright, stop by tho ok**

_Yeah I will_

If I went back to sleep again I wouldn't wake up on time. I went to the kitchen and decided to eat an apple and a turkey sandwich. Grandpa left a note on the fridge door that said he went to the store and to 'have fun with your boyfriend'. I swear to god. I went back to my room and put on a pair of shorts and a t shirt. I had no clue what we were doing so I had no clue what to put on. I sweat shirt on the chair by the front door so I could grab it before i left the house.

'Boyfriend', Grandpa just would not listen to what you told him. Sure, I am more than open to the idea, but Jean wasn't more likely than not.

I pulled out one of my books and read for the remaining 20 minutes.

5 minutes before 1, I was crying. You see I get awfully into certain books or book series.

I was reading the last book in _The Maze Runner _series, _The Death Cure._

Thomas had just killed Newt.

You see Newt was Thomas' best friend, extremely close and all since being in the Glade. Newt was not immune to getting a disease type thing called 'The Flare'.

He said to Thomas, 'KILL ME! If you've ever been my friend, kill me. Please Tommy,please.' Very sad, If it didn't make me cry I would be worried about myself.

I wiped the tears off of my face and got a quick drink.

I was walking too get my jacket when the doorbell rang. I opened the door to Jean who was smiling at me.

"Hi." he said to me when I opened the glass door. I was relieved when I saw he was wearing something along the lines of what I was wearing.

"Hi." i smiled back to him.

"Did you eat?" he asked when we walked to his car "I didn't even think about that, I already ate."

"It's fine, I ate too."

"So what do you want to do?"

"I don't know, it doesn't matter, I'm open to anything." i answered

"Do you want to see a movie? We can do something after too."

"Yeah a movie is good." I really should have specified **what** kind of movie was good. How the heck was I supposed to know that Jean was a horror movie junkie? I cried the last time i saw Coraline for god's sake! Of course I didn't say anything either. He asked me if i was okay with scary movies and for no reason at all I had said yes to him. It was most definitely not okay, I was going to completely wuss out in front of him.

He got 2 tickets to that _Deliver us from Evil_ movie and I really thought I was about to die, that looked absolutely terrifying.

They had updated the movie theater since the last time I had been there. The seats recline and there was basically couples snuggling with the armrest put back. Jean sat down in one that already had the armrest put back from the previous people. I got pretty nervous, I was most likely going to be as straight as a plank of wood trying not to freak out to much and not cling to Jean like a barnacle.

"I can't wait to see this." Jean told me after we'd been sitting down for a while.

"Oh really?" I was trying not to let the panic slip through in my voice.

"Yeah, god I love horror movies. You know I had this dream, absolutely terrifying, there were these giant humanoid creatures that ate humans and the entire human population was almost extinct and living inside these walled cities for a really long time before the creatures broke through the outer wall."

"That really does sound horrifying, maybe you should start writing a book." Jean honestly seemed to love horror movies as much as he did soccer.

"Haha, if I could only write well."

The lights started to dim, and with them my mental state. This kind of stuff really messed with my head.

It was okay for a while until it started getting really weird. The first couple of pop ups had scared the life out of me but i barely reacted on the outside. God, did that take some will power. But then it got pretty creepy, with the soundtrack and everything.

That's when I squeaked and grabbed Jean unconsciously. I let go almost as soon as a grabbed him, not really looking at his reaction because I was too bust trying to keep it together.

But then another thing happened and I squealed again, this time completely clinging to Jean. I felt him look down at me, chuckle, and then look back to the movie, so he really didn't mind much at all.

It had gotten to the point where I had my head tucked into him and he would giggle a little every time I jumped-spazzed-and tucked my face back against him.

He had put his arm around me at some point but I vaguely reacted to it on account of trying to keep my sanity, which I was currently failing at.

I hadn't noticed it until I almost shrieked and he suppressed a laugh and began to rub my back every time that I would flinch.

I was blushing quite a little and it probably would have been worse had I not been preoccupied by constant fear, so I guess there was a plus to being absolutely petrified.

We didn't move for a while as the credits were going.

"Sorry." Jean and I said at the same time.

"No really, I'm sorry." he said to me again.

"No, I really didn't have the heart to say no." I said back. We still hadn't really moved at all, and having no distraction now, a blush lit up my face, but he couldn't see it, thank god.

"Still." he said, making no move to release me.

"No, I didn't say anything it's really okay." I could tell he opened his mouth to say something but decided not to from the way his chest rose. I was starting to get a little embarrassed when I saw 4 girls look at us like they would puppies, so I moved a little hoping he would move his arm from my back.

He eventually did after I had moved a couple more times. I saw the girls giggle a little and heard one of them say 'gay couples are so adorable' and my face probably turned a dark red shade.

I think Jean heard it to because he put his arm back down on my back and pulled me towards him more than I already was. This earned excited squeals from the girls.  
I felt what seemed like a small chuckle from Jean and he let me go when the credits were over and most of the people were gone.

We stood up and I looked up at Jean for a second and he smiled at me, I smiled back to him and I heard the girls just barely concealing their giggles and 'aw's'

I looked at my phone and it was 3 PM.

"God, I can't imagine you being up for much after that. Really, I'm sorry Armin."

"I told you that it's fine. I didn't say anything when I should've."

"Alright..." he said tentatively. We got in his car and he asked if I was okay to go with him to Dick's Sporting Goods because his shin pads were pretty gross. We went inside and Jean got a bit more than he initially said.

Shin guards, about 5 pairs of shorts, and a mainly white jersey the said 'Fly Emirates' on the front.

We talked about the World Cup. Well mostly he did, but still.

"That final game got me on the edge of my seat, boy. I was afraid Messi was going to save Argentina's ass with the free kick he got. It was a total flop though, to my relief, but there was so much pressure on the the poor guy. Honestly, if di Maria was able to play, I really thing Argentina could've won. Thank god he wasn't, but Germany really missed the opportunity to play them at their best, just like with Brazil and kind of Portugal too I guess."

"Wasn't Ronaldo hurt previously?"

"Yeah, he hurt one of his knees in practice and then Pepe got himself a red card from headbutting Muller. The temper on that guy is unbelievable. He once stepped on Messi's hand purposely when he was trying to get up." I remember one game I had seen a flash of when a player had been elbowed in the eyebrow and was bleeding everywhere, which reminded me of Jean's forehead.

"How's your head by the way?" I asked looking at the large cut right above his eyebrow.

"Good, no concussion or anything." he laughed, "Just a cut with a promising future to be a scar and a great story." I laughed when he said that.

"I saw you there." he said.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, was looking for you at the end of the game but i guess you went home."

"Yeah, we didn't want to get caught in the crowd."

"We?" he said curiously

"Yeah, Eren and I. He got weird after I told him about those kids."

"I swear, I would've hit them."

"Well, I got him to stop calling you Sarah."

"Really? God, you are like my small blonde angel or something, thanks. That was getting kind of intolerable." I blushed a bit. He turned at the wrong place to get to my house so I asked him where he was going.

"Well to make up for the small trauma I caused you, I'm taking you to dinner."

"You don't-"

"I want to." I was left at that, how could he even have any money left after that little shopping spree?

I caught myself looking at his giant cut when he stooped the car, it was no restaurant or fast food place, it was his house.

"Haha, I'm kind of tapped out in my wallet at the moment so I just need to get some dough."

"Jean really you don't-" he cut me off again.

"No. I want to, really. So stop trying to get me not to." he told me, he was very persistent, if he wanted to do something, he was going to do something."Come in, sit down, my mom's not home right now, so no introductions yet."

"Okay." I said sitting down, 'no introductions _yet', _ does that mean he wants me to met his mom?

Apparently, I had been lost in thought longer than I thought because he yelled from his room that he was ready. I stood up and he ran down the steps and opened the door for me before I could even get my hand on the doorknob.

"How your mom take the news of the scout?" I said once we got into the car.

"Oh, she's been away on work for a couple of days, she gets back tomorrow morning."

"Oh, how do you think she'll take it?"

"Knowing Mom, she'll probably scream and then give me a high five, haha."

"Grandpa would probably do the same if it were me." Jean laughed at that, he changed the music station from, I think the radio said, Biggie Smalls.

"Marco always does that to me, knows I don't like rap so when he's feeling like a shit he puts it on when I'm not in the car then turns the radio off." I laughed at that, who knew that Marco of all people would do that?

He left the radio on some type of rock music.

"Who's this?" I asked him about halfway through the song.

"You don't know Nirvana?" he asked, I could see his eyes widen at the question, I took the answer as 'Nirvana'.

"I don't really listen to music much."

"God, alright well Nirvana was a grunge band that lasted from 87' to 94'. Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and the infamous Kurt Cobain were the final group."

"Didn't Kurt Cobain, you know?"

"Yeah, that's where it ended. Kurt sand and played guitar, Dave sang and played the drums, and Krist played bass. Dave's in the Foo Fighters now, another great band I'm going to make you listen to one day." I was glad to hear that even after my horror at the movie theater he still intended to hang out with me.

"Okay." I laughed to him.

He stopped at this restaurant I have never been to before.

"Shit, i forgot to ask, again, do you eat meat? You do right? Marco doesn't and it's pretty weird. Uh, sorry, if you don't eat meat, I didn't mean to, Uh..." I think for the first time ever, I just saw Jean blush. I looked at him for a little bit, identifying that he was most definitely blushing, which of course made me blush, so i snapped out of it and laughed at him.

"Yeah, I eat meat."

"Okay, good." he said taking a deep breathe and I laughed at him again.

It was a burger joint called Red Robin.

A waiter came and took our drink orders and Jean continued to stare at the menu, trying to figure out what to get. I was just going to go with the bacon, cheese, and lettuce burger. The waiter came back with our drinks and we ordered. Jean got this burger with a sunny side up egg on it, it sounded pretty gross, and not to mention fattening but he does enough to burn it all off. I don't think Jean even had any fat on his body.

We started talking about different things, mostly Jean obsessing over the fact I didn't know Nirvana, and then he started telling me about this time he shoved Marco's head into his birthday cake on Marco's 7th birthday and Marco slapped him in the face. So I told him about when Mikasa and I dyed bleached Eren's hair out and dyed it red and he didn't talk to us for a week. He really got a kick out of that.

We were a laughing mess when a new waitress came back with our food.

"Okay, which one's which?" she asked as Jean and I controlled our laughter. Jean told her which was mine and she gave us our food. "You two are so cute." she said when she walked away. I started blushing and glanced up at Jean, who was smiling and scratching the back of his neck nervously with-and I honestly couldn't believe it-another small blush dusting his cheeks.

He recovered a lot quickly than I did after eating a couple bites of his burger.

"So, what do you want to go to college for?" he asked me.

"Honestly I don't know. Engineering maybe?"

"Well hopefully I get to skip college right? If not I'll probably go for psychology or something like that."

"Psychology is another thing I'm considering."

"You could probably get into any college you wanted to, huh?"

"No, my grades aren't that-"

"Oh please, I bet you've never gotten anything lower than an A." I couldn't argue, I've never even gotten an A- before. He seemed to notice that he was right. "Exactly."

We finished our food and he paid, despite me trying to pay for my part 'no, I'm paying', 'put your money back in your pocket', and simply 'no'.

"Shoot, I left my jacket at your house." I realized when I started to shiver a bit walking back to his car, it had gotten dark out, we had been inside a bit longer than I thought. It was Saturday night so the whole parking lot was packed and he had to park quite far away.

"It's fine we'll just stop and get it, it's on the way." I shivered a bit more, I heard Jean moving as he fell behind me a little. Just as I stopped to turn and look at him, i felt him drape his coat on my shoulders. "You need it more than me." he said and began walking again.

We managed to hit every dating cliche so far, except meeting the parents.

"Okay let's go get your jacket." he said once we got to his house. We walked in the front door and lights were already on, I was pretty sure he turned them off too.

"Jean?" A feminine voice said from what I presumed to be the kitchen. Well, I was wrong, I was about to meet his mom.

"Ma? You said you were coming home tomorrow morning." he said before she walked into the living room.

"I wanted to- Jean! You didn't tell me you got yourself a boyfriend! He's so cute! Good job baby!" a blush had darkened my face considerably.

"I-I, we aren't," I stuttered, I looked at Jean who was blushing slightly and scratching the back of his neck again, but still smiling at his mom nonetheless.

"Mom this is Armin, he's been tutoring me after school because my grades are kind of crap, heh heh."

"Nice to meet you, you two would be such a cute couple though, you look like one, I mean you're wearing my sons jacket and everything!" she said and I shuffled to get the jacket off to give it back to Jean.

"Mom, I have to tell you something," Jean said smiling.

"Oh gosh darling, what is it?" she asked looking a bit worrisome. ""Wait, how was your game? How did you get that cut?!" she asked, voice elevating

"Well that's what I wanted to talk about, T=the game was amazing, but I got the cut from Stohess' goalie's elbow."

"What was the score?"

"3-2." Jean said, "I had the hat trick."

"Jean that's wonderful!"

"But listen, it was so wonderful," I doubt either of them remembered that I was here. "That there is a scout looking at me."

"Oh my god darling, what college?"

"That's the thing, there's a pro scout, for the friggen Union!"

Jean's mother took a couple seconds to process this, once she did her eyes teared up and she smiled quite largely.

"Yes!" she exclaimed "Yes! Yes! Yes!" she continued, now jumping in place, I could feel her pride for her son growing. She grabbed Jean by the shoulders and continued shouting 'yes!' and jumping in place.

"I have Armin to thank, they almost kicked me off the team temporarily because of my grades but Armin is a great teacher."

"Oh my god, thank you dear. Jean you really should date this boy, he's already wonderful for you!" The blushes came back. 'Oh Jean, your father would be so proud of you." she said, one tear falling and smiling thoughtfully. I kind of felt like I was intruding.

"Yeah, yeah he would be." Jean said getting a bit choked up. He cleared his throat. "Well, I should really get Armin home now. His Grandpa's probably worried."

I knew that Grandpa would be okay with me staying out pretty late but I didn't think I could deal with Jean's mother's comments on how cute of a couple we would be, my cheeks could not take it again really.

"My mom is pretty eccentric, huh?"

"Yeah, that was the third time tonight somebody's thought that." iI said back to him

"Thought we were together you mean?"

"Well, um yeah, those girls at the theater, the waitress, and your mom." I said, successfully holding back my blush. Jean laughed.

"I can't say I blame them." Blush-57, Armin-0. "We did kind of look like one in the movies I mean."

"Yeah I guess we did."

"I don't mind." he said to himself, I wasn't supposed to hear it, I could tell, but I did hear it. I just kept quiet though, I knew my voice would have cracked pretty badly if I tried to speak, not to mention the terrible stutter I get when I blush around him.

"Thanks Jean, I had a good time."

"Except for the movies." he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. I laughed.

"Still," I said back "Bye." I got out of the truck as he said his goodbye.

I walked in the door and put my sweatshirt on the back of the couch and sighed.

"How was you date Armin?" Grandpa asked me.

"It's n- you know what? It was good." Grandpa smiled and I walked to my room and laid down on my bed, smiling and giggling like an idiot.

**1 new message, Eren.**

**armin waht the hell you neve came over**

I decided to ingnore the message and just get lost in the happiness I was feeling. Tonight was a good night. Probably the best ever.

* * *

**Holy long chapter guys, sorry about that, and all the fluffy stuff.**

**Anyway, thank you guys for eading and reviewing the story, I really appreciate it!**

**Review guys! Follow, favorite, share!**


	7. Chicken soup

When I woke up this morning I felt like crap. My nose was stuffed up and I was cold.

I'm pretty sure Mikasa was still a bit contagious when I went over yesterday, and the combine fact that Eren elbowed me-for not coming when I said I would on Saturday-and I lost my balance and fell into a puddle in the park.

Mikasa hit Eren in the back of the head for it and I felt a lot better after having a laugh; but this morning I just felt like crap. I still went to school though because of tests and to help Jean. Speaking of Jean, he had another soccer game tonight to see if they would go to the semi-final for state championships.

I was pretty out of it all day though. I had gotten pen on my red uniform pants and I hadn't realized it until Mikasa pointed it out in 6th period. She asked if I wanted her to take me home early but I declined. Mikasa uses their mom's old car but she has sports almost every day after school so she couldn't take Eren and I home. It's field hockey right now, basketball in the winter, and softball in the spring.

I'm sure Eren noticed in 4th period before I started to feel worse than when I woke up, but he didn't say anything. He probably felt like it was his fault that I got sick. Honestly it was probably from Mikasa.

It was 8th period now and I felt pretty sick. My nose started running about halfway through class and I was frigid at this point. I didn't have my jacket either, it was pretty sunny this morning and I figured I'd warm up eventually. It was pretty stupid coming from me of all people. I could see Eren doing that but that's a different case.

I thought I was about to have a heart attack when the bell rang it caught me so off guard. I don't get sick a lot so I'm really not used to it.

Thank god my Physics teacher wasn't here today and the test was rescheduled. It was then I remembered Jean wasn't even in school today because of his game so I waited for Eren at his locker. I pulled out my phone.

**1 new message from Jean**

**Are you coming to the game tonight**

I typed back quickly

_I'm not sure. I feel pretty sick today._

He replied almost immediately, still on the bus.

**Feel better then, ill see you later**

I put my phone in my pocket and got the chills when Eren arrived at his locker.

"Armin you look terrible, I'm sorry it's probably my fault." He said in one breath, like he had been rehearsing it since 4th period.

"Eren honestly it was probably because Mikasa was still contagious." I said to him and he grumbled back to me and stalked out the school's front doors. We got on the bus and I felt like my arms were going to freeze off. I was pretty clammy and my clothes were sticking to my body. Eren asked me if I was okay a couple times and I mumbled an 'uh huh' to him.

He walked me to my door when we got to my house, probably because he thought I would have fallen over. Thank god he did because I did almost fall and my hands were so shaky I could barely get my key in the lock.

"Armin, I'm taking you to your bed right now. I swear if you are like this at school tomorrow-if you are even in school is more like it- I will make Mikasa take you home."

"Alright, alright."

"Okay, I'm calling Grandpa now."

"Eren, let me know how the game goes okay?"

"Fine, do you need anything?"

"Water."

He came back with the water about a minute later, on the phone with Grandpa.

"Yeah, he's in bed. Hey, I'll make Mikasa drive him home if that happens. Yeah, okay, I will. Bye." he said hanging up the phone. "Grandpa will be back in 2 hours, are you sure you don't need anything else?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Okay, go to sleep." he said walking out of my room. He yelled a goodbye as he left the house. I drank some of my water and then decided that I probably should sleep a little before trying to do my home work.

I opened my eyes and blinked a couple of times to try to rid myself of the sleep unsuccessfully. I saw someone with red shorts and a cerulean soccer jersey. I blinked a couple more times and saw that it said 'Trost High Soccer' over a titan logo. I looked up and saw that it was Jean sitting there smiling at me with a container in his hands.

"Jean?" I asked, I knew it was him so I don't know why I asked in the first place. Probably out of disbelief, but it could also be a dream too. That's it I'm dreaming.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Better, I guess what are you doing here?"

"I called to see how you were doing after the game and your grandpa said that I could come over if I wanted to."

"Oh. How was the game? Who won?"

"We did, it's on to semi finals now. It was great, we really creamed them, 4-0."

"Wow, did you score?"

"Yeah 3 of them."

"Wow. Good job, I feel bad for missing it."

"Don't."

"What's in the container?"

"My mom made you chicken soup. I told her you were sick and I was visiting so she made it for you." I laughed, I liked Jean's mom, even though she had embarrassed me thoroughly when I met her.

"She said 'Jean let me make your boyfriend some soup' haha. I swear she's insane." he said fondly.

"Tell her I said thanks."

"Sure thing. I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

"I don't know if I'll be in school tomorrow."

"I'll be over then, bye!" he said standing up and leavings, I said goodbye as he left and I ate the soup, my mind drifting from subject to subject. Normally ending back on Jean in some way.

* * *

I woke up and my clock said 6:30 AM. I kind of always woke up at this time everyday, unlike Eren who needed about 12 alarms and Mikasa threatening him with a dousing in cold water.

I felt a lot better than I did yesterday. Well, despite my nose still being stuffy and being a bit flustered by that dream I had of Jean.

I put my uniform on and then walked to the bus stop after eating breakfast. Eren probably got a ride with Mikasa because he told me not to go to school.

When I walked into the library 4th period for my study hall, I was meet with Eren's glare.

"Armin, what the hell? I'm getting Mikasa to take you home now."

"Eren, I'm actually fine now, okay?"

"Hmph. I came by to see you last night."

"Sorry, I was asleep."

"No you weren't."

"Eren, yes I was, I slept into this morning."

"No you didn't."

"I think I would know if I was awake."

"You were awake Armin, horseface was with you."

"Wha- wait that was real?" Eren gave me a blank look and then he looked sick.

"You thought you were dreaming about horseface? Yeah, only in nightmares."

"Eren stop, really you have no good reason for not liking Jean." he frowned at me. _If he saw Jean with his shirt off he would probably go psychotic.  
_I thought. It made me blush a little but Eren would have a complete mental breakdown. Eren liked boys, but most of them that tried with him he thought were stupid and boring. I'd seen him on a date before and he is always extremely bored with whoever he is with at the time. Mostly he complains that they are too jittery and flustered.

Eren was talking to me quite loudly and the librarian shushed him. the rest of 4th period went on in silence.

When the bell rang I saw Jean in the hallway. His bored expression changed as he smiled and waved at me.

Jean had physics 5th period and was texting me quite a lot. He probably finished a test early. I honestly have no clue how he was so good at physics.

**1 new message, Jean.**

**Yeah I just finished a test**

**Coach just told me that the scout is still looking at me**

_That's great, when is the nxt game?_

**Thursday, it's home so I really hope you'll be there?**

_Yeah, I will be._

_Thanks for the soup by the way_

**No problem, glad you feel better :)**

I heard my art teacher end the slide about visual puns and say something about how we can chose whatever medium we wanted to make it. The subject matter was due tomorrow by the end of class. I was probably going to do a batman thing and give it to Mikasa.

_Thanks. gtg i'll see you in the library._

**Yeah, I'll see you.**

* * *

I was reading my book on the ocean when Jean sat next to me. He took his tie off and then pulled out a worksheet.

"We're doing college essays in English."

"Do you need any help with it?"

"I'll let you know, haha." he laughed and began writing. He spoke up again after a while.

"You like the ocean?" he said eyeing my book.

"Yeah, well I've never been there before but I would love to. I know it's not clear blue up here but it's still so fascinating."

"Wait, you've never been to the beach?"

"No, I haven't."

"Wow." he said thoughtfully. He went back to his work and I went back to my book. After a while I started a rough sketch of my art project.

* * *

Jean drove me home again after practicing for a while. Grandpa asked if he wanted to stay for a while but he said he had to go to work. He worked at the same Dick's we went to a couple nights ago.

"Armin, you should really learn how to control your blushing, if that boy wasn't so oblivious he would notice it."

"I know Grandpa." I muttered.

"Something tells me he wouldn't mind though." He claimed shutting the front door.

"Sure."

"Oh, Eren called, he wanted to know when you would be home."

"I'll take that as he wants me to come over."

"Probably, knowing him."

"Well then, I'm going now."

"Okay, see you when you get back."

* * *

**I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG GUYS! I was on vacation in the mountains so no computer :(**

**I'd like to apologize for spoiling the Death Cure for some people too :(**

**I think after this story is over I'm going to start a little mermaid Jearmin AU. I talked about it on my tumblr a little.( jearminjunkie follow me! (; )**

**Anyway, review guys, i love reviews more than anything, except for shameless promotion. Share this fic with people who would like it!**


	8. Du bist wirklich niedlich

The whole school was hyped up about the semi final tonight. The game was away somewhere upstate and I was 99.9% sure that I wouldn't have a ride. Mikasa doesn't have enough for gas money to go up there and that was a fact, Grandpa was working so that was also a no. I really wanted to go, I don't really know why I wanted to go so bad. I mean sure, I liked the sport and I wanted to watch the game. I don't really know why but, I felt obligated to go to them, for Jean I mean. Obviously it's not like we're dating, why would we be? But I mean, he asks me every time to come and I feel like I'm disappointing him.

I was in the library during my lunch period, after my 6th period, when I felt a tap on my back. I took my ear buds out to see the guy occupying my thoughts. Jean had the lunch before me so he would have been in 6th period now.

"What are you doing in here? Why are you not in class?" I asked a bit frantically, even though I knew he wouldn't be taking any chances of getting in trouble.

"Relax, relax, I missed Yesterday's test and they're going over the answers so I can't be there. Which is pretty stupid, since I'm bilingual but, whatever." He answered me. Well now I knew Jean's sixth period.

"How do you think you guys are going to do tonight?" I asked him.

"I'm a little nervous actually,"

"You? Nervous? About a soccer game? Never." I joked with him.

"Oh, ha ha ha. Yes I am, they're a really good team." He said a bit sarcastically. "You better be there too, I play better when you're there."

"Wh-what?" Obviously I'm blushing now, do I even need to tell you guys anymore?

"It's true. So…"

"I-I don't have a ride."

"Nonsense!" he yelled, earning a 'shush' from the librarian. "My mom would take you. Then again my mom is kind of… ya know," he paused to swirl his finger around his head and make a 'coo coo' noise. "In certain respects I mean." He added quickly.

"D-does she still think we're… d-ating?" my voice broke a little and my face was once again the color of a tomato.

"Du bist wirklich niedlich." He said quietly staring at me.

"Wha-what?"

"Uh-um nothing. I really don't think anything will dissuade her on that though."

"Oh." I said simply, I was-surprisingly-successfully suppressing the blush on my face for once.

"Yeah, sorry you don't need to go. I feel a little selfish for suggesting that actually." He emphasized the need.

"N-no, it's okay really. I really want to go. I don't think it would be so embarrassing if it was just her and I."

"Really?" he asked sounding a tiny bit shocked.

"Sure, why not? I mean if you don't-"

"N-no, I do want you to come, really, she just likes you a lot I guess I should say."

"How do you mean?" I knew he would tell me exactly what he meant and that's exactly why I regretted the words the second they were vocalized.

"'Jean how's your boyfriend?' 'Are you going to see your boyfriend now?' 'Your boyfriend, Armin, how is he?'" he said in a higher pitched voice with a slight New York accent, which his mom didn't even have. I laughed a little and looked down to my phone. I turned my music off, well I tried to anyway. "What kind of music do you listen to anyway?" he asked, leaning on me and grabbing my phone. Jean was really not someone who realized 'personal bubbles' very well. I don't even think it was that, I just don't think he cares all that much about it.

He woke my phone up and saw the music playing. He got this goofy expression on his face.

"Nirvana? Sweet, so I have rubbed off on you in some way. Fantastic." He chuckled handing me my phone back. I got a couple of glares from a group of girls across the room, no doubt ones who had crushes on Jean. Freshmen I think, I didn't recognize any of them.

"Yeah you did I guess." I replied, he was still leaning on me slightly.

"So, you'll seriously go to the game with my mom? Like seriously?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Awesome." He stated. "You know, if we win this game, I'm pretty sure Levi will come to the final. It's been a long time since I saw him."

_Eren would probably drool over Levi._

"Really?"

"Yeah, he had like, over half college classes and he didn't go to parties or anything so I never saw him outside of soccer."

"Connie told me it was almost creepy how you guys worked together."

"Yeah, we we're a great duo."

"The bell's about to ring." I said to Jean as I stood up.

"Alright, we're leaving next period, it's closer than it was last time." He said. I got a chill right then, it was nothing but Jean's demeanor changed.

"You aren't still sick right?"

"N-no, I'm fine. Just… cold I guess."

"Not taking any chances." He claimed slipping off his soccer sweatshirt and forcibly shoving it onto me. It was the one that said 'Kirschstein' on the back and he wore a lot, like **a lot**. It smelled like coconut and peppermint, like… Jean. You already know how badly I'm blushing.

"Jean, I don't."

"No. Chances. You're my living good luck charm." The bell rang after that and he walked away rather quickly, probably so I wouldn't try to give the sweatshirt back to him.

I took the courtyard to get to my next class, if I wasn't looking down I'm sure I would notice some stares because of the sweatshirt I was wearing.

I walked into 7th period and sat down next to Connie, who immediately started talking about how he thought the soccer game was going to go. I tried to focus on what the teacher was saying about Uniform Circular Motion but I couldn't. I guess I could just ask Jean for help because it is his strong suit, the teacher learning from the student. Connie just started talking about Jean and how he'll probably have even more scouts looking at him than he already did. Then he went on to telling me how it would probably be the same for Marco with baseball this year.

"All Boy's Soccer members, report to the main entrance. Good luck with your game boys."

"Haha, we don't need luck when we have Jean." Connie responded loudly, laughing like an idiot as he left the room.

"Oi, you're gonna do great Con!" Sasha yelled from the other side of the classroom. Our teacher knew better than to put them remotely near each other. Connie more than likely winked and clicked his tongue at her and continued laughing to himself as the door shut.

"Alright, alright. Back to class, here's your test review. I don't care when you do it, just do it in 2 days." The teacher said handing out the papers. I'd do it later rather than sooner in this case because Connie would not stop talking. I don't blame him though, if I went to the ocean I wouldn't shut up about it either.

**I'll give my mom ur address?**

_Yeah that's fine._

**Ok, I'll see you at the game.**

_Can I ask a favor?_

**Sure thing what is it**

_Connie wouldn't stop talking while the teacher was going over uniform circular motion can you help me with it when you get the chance?_

**Yeah no problem**

**Hahaha the teacher is getting taught.**

_Haha, thanks jean_

**Don't worry about it.**

**And I'm apologizing in advance for any embarrassment my mom might cause you, she really thinks that were dating**

_Its fine,ill endure it_

**Who do you have for physics anyway?**

_Is it bad that I still don't know his name?_

**HAHAHA no I still don't know the gym teacher's name**

_You don't even have gym so theres your excuse_

**Or the art teachers name now that I think about it**

_Ok that's better haha_

**Coach is giving us a speech brb**

I put an ear bud in and turned on some music and started with the parts of the packet I actually understood.

I looked across the room to see Sasha tapping her foot rapidly and her eyes moving from her packet to her phone every second. She was texting Connie that much was apparent. It was weird because that's kind of how I felt inside right now.

**Coach is done.**

**He finished with 'if you want to curse do it in german' haha **

_I'm kind of mad I don't have him for a teacher_

**Yeah he's great. **

**Hey my phone is almost dead, I'll see you later tho**

_Okay, bye good luck._

I'd only heard Jean speak German twice. The first time was last year in Calc class when the teacher was being kind of rude to him, so I know he was cursing her out, the only word I can recall was 'hündin'. But more recently he was speaking directly to me and I don't think he was cursing at me. _Du bist wirklich niedlich,_ I wonder what that meant; I'll have to google it or something. Eren might know, he does take German.

"Let's go Armin, I don't have homework, for freaking once." Eren mumbled the last part.

"Yeah, okay." I pushed off of his locker.

Eren held the main door for me when we walked out of the school. We were talking when Eren looked as if he just saw a ghost. He fell back a little before I turned to look at him.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Why. The. Hell. Are. You. Wearing. Horseface's. Sweatshirt?" Oh crap. I knew he would act like this, he really cannot stand Jean. It's pretty irrational, Eren has never really spoken to him outside of yelling at him.

"I got a chill and he forced me to wear it. Calm down, really Eren."

"I guess I should give him a chance."

"Hey, do you know what niedlich means?"

"Uh, no… Sorry." I got the feeling he was lying but I let it go. "Uh why?"

"Jean said it."

"Wh-what? Why?"

"Why are you getting so weird?"

"I'm not. Oh look, we're at our stop let's go!" he wasn't going to talk about it anymore so I dropped it.

* * *

I was straining to try to finish that physics packet, I had a weird habit of finishing thing ASAP. I'd been home for about 30 minutes and I figured Jean's mom would be here soon since they left early to get there.

As if it was on cue, I heard a knock on my door.

"Hi Mrs. Kirschstein." I said once I opened the door

"Oh, call me Fleur dear." French, that's how Jean got his name. And from how she already had her arm around my shoulder, I'd say that she's also where he got his ignorance of personal space. Not that I cared.

"So Jean asked you to come tonight?"

"Yeah, he did."

"Aw, he told me he plays better when you come, how sweet that is!" she squeaked.

"We-well, I've only been to one game really, so that can't really be true." I claimed sheepishly, I had been to more than one, but Jean had only asked me to come to 3 including this one.

"He said his best game in his senior year, even his life was the one he asked you to. I think it's because my Jean has some special feelings for you." She turned to me and wiggled her eyebrow.

"I-I really don't think so uh-Fleur."

"Oh nonsense, I know Jean better than anyone." I was desperate to get off of the subject so I asked her how long to drive was.

"About 45 minutes, 30 now." I really hoped she wasn't going to talk about Jean's hypothetical crush on me the whole time. Lucky for me she didn't.

"How long has Jean played soccer for?" I asked her trying to make conversation other that what she seemed to talk about every time I was involved.

"Gosh, he's been playing since micro minis. His dad loved soccer and I think he really passed it on to Jean. Jean broke his foot once when he was a sophomore and I never saw him so depressed because he couldn't play sports. He wasn't anywhere near as bad as Marco when he had to have work done on his shoulder freshman year, which was absolutely terrible." I remember Marco having surgery, it was right after the school's baseball season was over, I remember seeing him, Jean, his mom, and Jean's mom walking him out of the car so he didn't fall over, and he was crying pretty hard if I remember right.

"I remember when Marco had surgery."

"He was terrible, such a nice kid he didn't deserve to be away from what he loved like that. That darn rotator cuff." She was getting kind of upset talking about it, I could tell, so she went back to Jean. "Anyway, you could ask little Jean what he wanted to be when he got older and he was always say 'I want to be a fussball player'. He always got confused between German and English." I laughed with her at that.

"You'd think they wouldn't make him take a language."

"Yes, you would. His test, quiz, and homework grades are good but his participation is horrible. He knows the language so he doesn't see any need to participate in class or answer many questions. If I had a dime for every time he said he said that he would be a better teacher and for every call I got from his teacher saying he had been sleeping in class again I'd be able to pay for college 3 times over."

"I'd love to see Jean try to teach a class." I chuckled to myself, she laughed with me.

"He would the worst German teacher ever. He's known how to speak it since he was born he doesn't really remember how he was taught." She said with emphasis on the how. "He'd get fed up in a matter of seconds. Anything else he would be fine with teaching." I laughed again with her. "What language do you take dear?"

"French, it's really beautiful."

"I'm part French, but a smart boy like you could probably tell from my name."

"Uh, yeah I could. It's a gorgeous name."

"Thank you! There was a boy just like Jean last year, with language I mean. He took French but he already knew all his French, gosh what was his name? He was Jean's co captain, short boy, not very talkative, Ackerman-"

"Levi?"

"Levi, that's it! His mom is French, we are still good friends."

"Yeah, Levi got a scholarship to Princeton. He's probably the smartest person I've ever met it really wasn't much of a surprise to me."

"Yeah, his mother was off the walls about that. His 2 sister go to Ivy League schools too. Adèle just finished at Penn and Cailin is at Brown right now."

"Wow, Levi really lived up to his sisters."

"Yeah, he did. Where are you thinking of applying to?"

"Drexel, maybe Penn, I would need a full scholarship though."

"From what Jean has said I think that that's more than possible for you."

"Thanks." We were pulling into the parking lot of the school. We were walking up to the bleachers when I dropped my phone and stopped to pick it up. Mrs. Kirschstein had caught Jean's eye in the meantime while she waved at him erratically and he was waving back. He looked a bit upset, maybe he was nervous? He didn't seem to be _that_ nervous when I last saw him, I know he said that he was a little nervous. I saw his mom wave me towards her, I wasn't even in the stands yet. I walked up and waved to Jean and smiled slightly. His face rose quite a lot and he smiled broadly and waved at me then went back turned back to the team. When I turned back to Mrs. Kirschstein I could feel a couple of glares from a group of girls from Trost. That was when I realized I still had Jean's sweatshirt on and I flushed a couple of shades.

When I sat down next to Mrs. Kirschstein she seemed to realize that I was wearing it too because she started to giggle.

"Hi Fleur, hi Armin." I looked up to see Marco beginning to sit down next to me.

"Marco! Darling! Hello!" Mrs. Kirschstein said to him happily.

"Hi Marco." I replied kind of sheepishly. The game started shortly after Marco sat down. Mrs. Kirschstein talked quite a lot and it was kind of hard to pay attention to the game. I'm pretty sure Marco was having a hard time too. We nearly missed Jean pull a bicycle kick out of nowhere and Connie head it into goal. No one on the visiting side was screaming louder than Mrs. Kirschstein and Marco and I were actually hugging and jumping up and down. Marco pointed out the opposing coach looking absolutely shocked and we laughed pretty hard at that. I guess he didn't do his research on Trost's soccer team.

"Even after knowing him my whole life I never thought he would be able to do that." Marco said after the screams died down.

"I don't think he knew he could do that." I replied still dumbstruck.

"That's my boy right there!" Jean's mom said to us and began talking again. The rest of the first half was uneventful for both teams. The opposing probably to shocked to try to score but not shocked enough to have a bad defense. The buzzer rang and the players ran back to the benches. Mr. Smith hugged Jean and Connie for the awesome play. Connie looked like he was going to explode. He looked up to Jean when it came to soccer so he was probably star struck after the play. Mrs. Kirschstein hugged me and said something about my being a good luck charm. I think she started talking about how Jean and I had crushes on each other but I was busy seeing Jean smile at me again. My cheeks were flushed and Jean seemed to be ignoring whatever Mr. Smith was saying.

"Well yeah look at them now…" I heard Marco say which caused me to look down at my feet and back to Jean for a brief second.

"Guys… That's not true." I debated weakly.

"It's cute." Marco said back. The buzzer rung again and as soon as the 2nd half started, Mrs. Kirschstein did too. She stopped talking and cheered for Jean whenever he did something extraordinary. There were a couple close calls and the opposite team scored once but just as soon as they got the goal Trost got one too. Connie was taking the ball up the side of the field and you could hear Coach Smith yelling 'pass the ball'. He passed to Thomas and he cleared a couple defenders.

Jean told me that they always switch up their positions when they play Stohess because of the rivalry Trost has with them so Thomas and Franz had switched positions during that game.

Thomas made a quick pass to Jean, who the opposing team stupidly neglected to cover, on the far right side of the field and he took a shot. The curve he managed to put on that ball was beautiful. Anyway, that's how they scored the second goal.

When the buzzer rang to call the game over everyone in the bleachers was screaming uncontrollably. Trost was going to states. Marco grabbed me and kissed the side of my head and then hugged me and began to jump like a fish out of water with me. Jean's mom was going crazy, screaming and flailing the whole shebang. We waited for Jean after we exited the bleachers.

"Jean!" his mom shouted to get him to see where the 3 of us were standing. He jogged up to us. I was expecting him to hug his mom and for her to yell about how good he did. I really was taken by surprise when Jean immediately hugged me, lifting me off the ground even.

"What did I say? Good luck charm." He said to all of us but looking directly at me after he released me. Marco was laughing, obviously picking up on my blush and Jean's mom began yelling about how good he did.

"Look, I have to go to work now, Marco can you take Armin home?"

"Well yeah he lives on my street remember?"

"Oh yeah, he does doesn't he?"Marco and Mrs. Kirschstein walked towards their cars and I was about to go when Jean put his hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, thanks for coming Armin."

"I'm glad I did." I replied

"I'll see you at school tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Good." He smiled and patted my shoulder about to retreat to the bus. For the second time tonight Jean shocked me, I don't think he realized he did it but he kissed me on the cheek while starting to run back to the bus.

I stood there for a minute getting myself under control and remembering how to walk. Marco was waiting for me, he had his hand over his mouth trying not to laugh at the deep red shade that was probably on my cheeks.

"Don't say anything." I said as I hurried past him to his car.

* * *

**Wow that was long. I'm not telling you what 'Du bist wirklich niedlich' means, you'll have to look it up XP**


	9. Rico

I walked past Marco to his car after that. My heart was pounding so hard I thought that it was going to burst out of my chest, my face felt like I had washed it thoroughly in lava, and I pretty sure you could see my face glowing red from a mile away.

Oh, and the best part is that he probably didn't even realize that he had even done that.

I could hear Marco sputtering behind me, trying not to laugh. He was a saint if I ever saw one. I told him not to say anything about it and I really wish I hadn't. He was probably the only person would stay sane if we talked about it. Grandpa would laugh, I could say something to Jean's mom but she would probably pass out from happiness, Mikasa knows as much about this stuff as I do, and Eren? Eren would go absolutely and completely insane. He would literally try to kill Jean.

Marco unlocked the doors and I got in. He could already tell I had at least a small crush on Jean but now, he most likely could tell I had a crush on Jean because he had kissed me in nearly the same place when Trost had won the game and I didn't react anywhere near this.

"So, uh," Marco started as he began to back out of his parking spot. "Where are you applying to college?" he asked, unfortunately avoiding the elephant in the room like I told him to. Why is he so darn nice?

"D-Drexel o-or Penn."

"Uh, cool. What do you… want to major in?" he paused to think, it was more than obvious he wanted to talk about Jean and I.

"I-I don't know y-yet." I answered honestly.

"Well uh, Jean um," he was proceeding with caution, my blush had gotten worse and I looked down. "He said you love the ocean?"

"Jean talks about me?"

"Yeah, a lot actually." I was really hoping this would transition into talking about what just happened soon.

"Um, yeah actually, I-I do love the ocean."

"Well what about Marine Biology for your major?"

A saint.

Marco is a saint.

He is a saint and I can't be convinced otherwise.

* * *

Armin was still red in the cheeks.

I really wanted to ask him how he was feeling after the stunt Jean pulled before getting on the bus.

He always does stuff like that. He'll do something or say something and he has no clue that he does it. It's like his sub conscious takes over for a second or two and then he has no recollection of whatever it was he truly wanted to say or do on the inside. Jean once told a girl she was super annoying when we were 12 and didn't even remember it.

This was the first crush Jean has really ever had other than soccer and he was probably more than completely unaware of it.

I could be wrong and Armin could just be extremely embarrassed about this, but I really think Armin has a crush on Jean.

He told me not to say anything about it but it's really all that's on my mind at the given moment.

The way he had just reacted a second ago when I told him that Jean talks about him a lot told me that my assumption about his liking Jean was right.

"I have never even thought about that, thanks so much Marco." I felt good that I had at least helped Armin with one thing. He was awfully cute now that I think about it, he reminded me of the new girl Krista, just more masculine.

I was definitely going to say that to Jean so he finally realizes that he has a crush on Armin. Jean was so oblivious to everything including his own feelings that it physically hurt me.

He told me that he was going to be swamped at work for a while, though and I didn't know why he would be because they don't have big events or anything, but I don't know when I would be able to talk to him alone.

"Jean uh- he doesn't really recognize what he does or says a lot." I started, Armin looked a bit upset and I felt kind of bad but it got rid of any doubt of him not liking Jean that way. "But it's his subconscious acting for him, he's too dense to even realize what's going on in there over 75% of the time."

Armin laughed, thank God because I was feeling pretty bad for upsetting him.

"Marco? Do you know any German?" So Jean was subconsciously speaking in German to Armin? God, he must have a school girl crush on Armin because even his subconscious was trying hide it.

"I've picked up some from Jean. Another thing he does subconsciously, speaking in one language or another."

"Uh, do you happen to know what 'du bist wirklich niedlich' means?" I failed at not laughing.

"Yeah, it means 'you're really cute'." I continued laughing and saw Armin become red in the cheeks again.

* * *

"Yeah, it means 'you're really cute'."

What. He couldn't have said that. There is no way that Jean would ever say that. It was impossible.

"Hey, I know you said don't say anything but-"

"Marco I like him."

"Yeah, I could kind of tell."

"Oh god, really? Is it that obvious?" I was legitimately worried that everyone could tell.

"No, not really. At least not to Jean anyway, he's very thick skulled." Marco chuckled nervously. I guess that was okay, I mean I kind of hoped that no one else could tell either but I'd have to settle. "When I say thick I mean it. Like really, really, thick."

"So, to change the subject, how do you think the baseball team will do this year?"

"Good I hope! I can't wait to get the uniform on again!" _Uniform, stop thinking of Jean in baseball pants._ "My last year for the school so I better make it good right?"

"Yeah, that's how I try to look at things."

We were right next to our street after a while. It's amazing how much you can space out just from trying not to blush. I told Marco thanks and then got out of the car.

Even though I've known I've had a crush on Jean, but that was the first time I blatantly said that it felt good. But I really wanted to sleep to try to get away from the feeling in my stomach.

* * *

I woke up around 6 AM. I looked at my phone and realized I hadn't checked it since before I dropped it at the soccer game. I could tell the text's were from Eren.

**12 new messages, Eren**

**armin mikasa is makin me watch chick flicks with her and annie pls come over or sumthin**

**armin pls**

**im dyin**

**wth r u asleep or sumthin**

**u better b asleep**

**havin a good dream about horseface I bet**

**gaddamnit pls come over**

**ARMIN**

**Im makin u do my homework**

**Im srry let me come ovr srsly thyr makin me watch 80s movies**

**WTF is this 'pretty in pink'**

**no u r so doin my hw now**

Oh no, I forgot that was when Mikasa had Annie over to watch movies. Every Wednesday night, you'd think that they would do it on Friday nights but according to Eren all Mikasa did was text Annie until 3 AM.

I got a shower, made breakfast, got Grandpa up, ate, brushed my teeth, and then got my things together as I got a text.

**1 new message, Eren**

**Ill b here in like 1 minute**

I went outside to see Eren glaring at me.

"You!" he pointed at me, "You are an ass! You know firsthand how terrible movie night is! God just because I'm gay doesn't mean I like girl stuff."

"I'm sorry Eren, I wasn't even home." His head snapped in my direction. "I was at the semi final."

"What-How did you even get there?"

"J-Marco took me." I lied, just so he didn't ask any questions.

"Oh, okay. You are still doing my homework!"

"Alright fine, fair enough. But I still have to-"

"Yeah tutor I know. Just come to my locker." The only problem with that is I have to pass the locker rooms to get back to the library from Eren's locker.

"Uh, yeah fine I will. Only because I know how bad movie night is!"

"You're a prince!" he shouted before we reached the school's entrance. I saw Jean talking with one of the girls' volleyball team members. She was pretty, not like Krista but like Mikasa, with a blank expression but still pretty. Her name was Rico, she was a senior, she had short blonde hair, lighter than Annie's, and blue/green eyes. I'm pretty ashamed to say that I was jealous over the fact her and Jean were laughing with each other right now.

Rico wouldn't be the first girl to act on her crush on Jean but she looked pretty successful. I hope Jean doesn't talk about her all that much today because really I don't think I'll handle it well.

_If I'm not in the library when you get there I'll be there soon _I texted Jean during lunch.

**Okay, ill be in the locker room giving my captains speech about how good we did last night and ill b there**

_Haha okay._

After I put my phone in my pocket I felt it buzz but I didn't get it out again. I had finally told someone directly that I like Jean and now he has a potential girlfriend. I felt like a jealous girl right now and that was bothering me.

I felt like crying honestly.

I was walking to the library from Eren's locker and what do you know, 2 members of the football team caught sight of me.

"Look it's that girly boy!"

"What an insult to all men." I rolled my eyes. 'Men' would not be ostracizing me about my looks. This was really the first time when I wasn't terrified of them, I just didn't have enough energy to be scared.

"Waiting to see what real men look like, huh?" one of them stopped me from walking away from them by grabbing my shoulder and spinning me in their direction.

"No, he's waiting to ogle them."

"No." the first time I have ever really stood up to someone un-nervously. "I'm trying to go to the library so back off why don't you?" I attempted to move but the other boy had grabbed my wrist after the one let my shoulder go.

"Oh, you think that you're in charge gay boy?" he looked angry, homophobes are the absolute worst.

"H-hey, look we should just get to the fields, yeah?" the smaller one said.

"How 'bout you shut the fuck up? I thought you were cool? I'll have to mess you up too now."

"I-I'm gonna go to the field now." He said running away.

"Now back to you, you gay piece of scum!" he punched me in the stomach and I coughed hunching over, I felt like I was back in freshman year. "What a little bitch! This is what you get you piece of trash!"

Now it was the ribs. Then a smack in the face. Another. Another. Back to the stomach.

I started to cry after that. This was probably the worst day of my life.

"Haha! That's right cry, you're so gay. A gay little bitch." He threw me down to the floor after another smack to the face. He started to kick me in the stomach as I tried to wipe all the tears from my eyes. It made me sick that we were in the middle of a hallway and there was no one walking in it to stop him. The sports teams left out of another door in the locker room that led outside. Jean was probably already in the library by now too. I started crying again.

"You cry like a little girl! You are pathetic and everyone else like you is too." He kept kicking me. Again I wished the world would just swallow me up. If he kept this up, which he was going to, he'd break something. I close my eyes and ducked my head before he kicked me in the head. This guy wasn't like the kinds Jean got rid of a couple weeks ago; he wasn't trying to scare me, he was trying to hurt me. I felt another kick to my stomach and I un-tucked my head.

Out of nowhere, Jean punched him in the face hard enough to almost knock him over.

"What the hell?" He said when he recovered from the shock of being hit. Jean didn't respond, he just hit the kid again. I had seen him fight with Eren before but he didn't look anything like he did now. He was completely enraged right now.

"What an asshole, I hate trash like you," Jean yelled at him as he punched the kid in the face again, "I have no fucking tolerance for shit like you!"

"J-Jean, stop," I started, but he kept punching the other in the chest. "Jean stop! The team needs you for the championship! The whole school does!" he stopped halfway through a punch.

"Y-yeah, man I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The kid said.

"Fucking leave before I change my mind, asshole. Don't fucking touch him again or I'll fucking kill you." the boy scrambled away nodding yes.

I couldn't believe Jean just put his position in the championship on the line for me. His voice broke my thoughts.

"God, are you okay? I swear to god if you aren't I'll kill him." He pushed my hair out of my face to see bright red handprints and tears. "I'm going to fucking kill him."

"Jean, you'll lose the right to play, I'm not worth that."

"What the hell Armin? Of course you're worth it!" I flinched at that, he looked shocked at that and then his features softened. "Goddammit, I'm sorry." He hugged me after that, tightly, very tightly.

"Th-thanks Jean." I said hugging him back. He began to rub my back and I squirmed to try to wipe my tears away. He let go and then looked at me as I adverted my eyes. He wiped that tears away and I flinched from pain. His eyes widened in anger but he controlled it.

"Shit! You need to go to the nurse now."

"Jean it's fine."

"Like hell it is!" he exclaimed angrily. "Nurse, now." He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the nurse. I fought of a heavy urge to blush when he didn't let go immediately. "Shadis!" he shouted quietly to the nurse who had yet to leave.

"What the heck happened, boy?"

"Some fucker beat him up."

"Jean, watch your language. Here I'll get you an ice pack."

"I'm taking you home."

"No, you need study help."

"You need to not give yourself a concussion, if you don't have one already."

"How's your head by the way?" I asked

"Good, Rico said I'll look pretty cool with a scar." Rico, the name that put a damper on my 'okay' state. His phone buzzed shortly after. "Speak of the devil," he said as he started tapping the screen of the phone. Mr. Shadis handed me an ice pack and we walked out of the office.

"We've got something great planned I'll tell ya."

I started to cry quietly again, _really Armin?_ I couldn't handle all of the crap in one day. I tried to wipe the tears before Jean saw them but I failed.

"Hey, are you okay? Really?" he asked putting an arm around me.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Alright, you're going home."

"Jean-"

"Nope." He never moved his arm from me.

The ride back was quiet; Jean looked like he was thinking pretty deeply about something so I let him alone. He was probably thinking of Rico.

"I'm really sorry that I scared you, I just couldn't stand that he was hurting you."

"It's fine."

"I don't want you to be afraid of me, I'm really sorry."

"Jean, I'm not scared of you, honest to god." He did act like that kid insulted his mom though.

"Look, I really should go practice since were so close to our game, and I have work after but I'll check up on you."

"Alright, bye Jean, thanks for the ride." I said rather coldly to him as I got out of the car, I was thinking of he and Rico and I didn't want to seem sad to him.

He waited a while after I got inside to leave; he was staring at the house like a kicked puppy. I felt really bad about acting so rude to him.

I pulled my phone again and looked at my messages.

**1 new message, Jean**

**O nd me and rico are doin something after tutoring tdy so I have to pick her up on the way 2 ur house. she doesnt have a car yet haha**

For the 50th time today I felt like crying.

* * *

**Bumbumbum trouble in paradise? But Jean was acting like a protective boyf(and a sad horse?)? But Marco said? hm Marco... youll have to wait to find out! But don't worry, Jearmin is endgame.**

**You guys may want to kill me when I say that it may take a while for another update bc I have preseason soon, woohoo *shoots self***

**The more reviews the faster ill try to get a good chapter up**

**Until next time babies ~mwah~**


	10. bruises

I didn't feel like going to school today so I didn't. I told Grandpa that I wasn't ready to go back after what happened with that kid and I texted Mikasa to tell Eren that I was either sick or taking a mental health day and to keep Eren from seeing me. She came over a while after Jean dropped me off, when I normally would've gotten home. Eren was on yet another unsuccessful date with a guy called Reiner, he texted me after and said that he was still shaken up over an ex. I knew Reiner, he went out with my friend Bertholdt and they both went graduated last year. So anyway, Mikasa knew as well as I did not to let Eren know because he would go berserk like Jean did but he wouldn't stop.

I had a bruise on my temple ad Eren would still manage to see it somehow.

_Can u get Eren's hw from me now and give it to him_

**Why did you do Eren's homework?**

_Long story_

**Alright, I'm walking over now. Eren is still sleeping.**

I was typing back as she was knocking on my door. She had a faint hint of a smile on her face, as she was texting when I opened the door. Her face dropped when she saw me.

"Come here, let me see your head." She said stepping into my house while pushing my bangs back to reveal the bruise left from the guy's foot. "It should be gone by Saturday."

"Good, set Eren up again so he doesn't come over." I could see her phone, it was opened on a conversation with Annie, she wasn't as curt as she was with me or anyone else when she texted Annie, I was more than shocked to see a smiley emoticon on her side.

"Yes, I will. I'll bring your makeup work to you when school's done. I'll tell Eren that I'm going to Annie's so he doesn't complain about me not driving him."

"Yeah, have a good Friday Mikasa."

"I will, I'm actually seeing Annie after school."

"Tell her I said Hi."

"Alright, I'll text someone to occupy Eren."

"Thanks." Despite how Mikasa was acting I could tell that she was angry with the guy who did this.

I walked back into my room and put on the TV. I started to binge watch Criminal Minds, I think it was in the 5th season from the length of Reid's hair.

**1 new message, Eren**

**Sinc u are slacking off of school tody I figure im just gonna tell u abt last night**

I put my phone down and continued watching Criminal Minds until it buzzed again.

**So he was literally talking abt his ex the whole time so it like turned into a fuvkin therapy session I told him to get his bf back but it's ashame bc he was pretty hot his name is reiner**

_I know Reiner_

_My friend Bertholdt is his ex_

**Reiner called him his little giraffe**

**It was fuckin weird**

**Hes ripped**

_I know that_

**Mikasa just told me she set me up on another date I wonder if he'll be a loser like the rest of them**

_I hope not. Im going to take a nap. Tell me how your date goes._

**Alright ill see you tmmr**

I finished watching that episode of Criminal Minds, where they think the famous singer is killing people by draining their blood from their neck but it's the manager making the obsessed schizophrenic groupie do it, and then I turned the TV off and went to my room. My eyes were burning and I was exhausted I didn't sleep a lot after last night due to the events of the given day.

On the bright side I'm pretty sure that was rock bottom so it could only get better, right?

I laid back on my bed and Dean jumped up and curled into my side. My eyes burned when I shut them, you know like they do when you're sick, and started to pet Dean. The last thing I remember was hearing him purr.

I woke up after a rather horrible dream. It was so stupid; it was exactly what I thought of when Jean said he and Rico have something great planned but with visuals. Basically it was Jean and Rico telling everyone they were in a relationship and kissing after winning the championship game. Having a crush is not worth this kind of stuff is it?

**2 new messages, Eren. 1 new message, Jean.**

**So horseface punched some footballer in the face at lunch whats up with that**

**Guess who te new power couple is**

Jean and Rico probably, my heart sank.

**I'm coming over after practice**

Crap, I really was not ready to see Jean at all. I looked at the clock to see that it said 5:13 and that Jean was probably getting ready to leave practice now.

"Crap." I said to myself as I went to the fridge and pulled a bottle of water out. I went to the bathroom and pulled my hair back. It was sweaty from trashing around in my sleep I guess and sticking to my neck. I noticed another bruise on the back of my jaw by my ear. I pulled my bangs to the side to look at the bruise on my temple. I was about to straighten them back and take my hair down when I heard a knock on the door and I froze. _He's going to tell me all about Rico now._

I walked to the door and heard him knock loudly again. I couldn't blame him, the last time I saw him I gave off a rude feel. I opened the door to see him standing there looking at his feet. I smiled slightly, and moved back to let him come in but he was still too busy staring at his feet.

"Hi." I said to him. He looked up wide eyed, nervous looking.

"Ar-Armin, do you hate me?" he yelled out like a girl confessing her love in a shoujo anime, slowly and quietly but then suddenly and loudly. Not that I watch shoujo anime.

"Why would I hate you?"

"I got pretty out of control and you seemed pretty freaked out yesterday. I figured you'd hate me."

"Jean, I'm sorry but that's just stupid. I could never hate you." He took a deep breath and he looked very relieved, _why would my opinion of him mean so much?_ He looked at me and I could tell his eyes were locked on the bruise on my temple. He seemed upset; I moved my bangs back and I turned my head. He wouldn't have seen the bruise on my jaw had we been on equal ground. I was about an inch shorter than him since I was inside and he was still on my porch.

He gasped a little when he saw that one. I looked back at him a bit embarrassed that he was staring. He reached out and touched the bruise gently. I stared at him, my eyes were probably as big as saucers. He took me by surprise when he caressed my cheek. Marco's words struck me again; _Jean uh- he doesn't really recognize what he does or says a lot. But it's his subconscious acting for him, he's too dense to even realize what's going on in there over 75% of the time._

What confused me even more was that it still means somewhere inside of him he **wanted** to do this, tell me I was cute, and kiss me on the cheek.

"Jean." I said curtly, he snapped his hand to his side while snapping out of the trance he was in. "Eren texted me at lunch, why did you punch that kid again?"

"He was being an asshole and bragging about hurting you, god I just got so mad."

"How much trouble are you in?"

"I have In School Suspension tomorrow and Saturday detention, woohoo breakfast club." He attempted to joke weakly.

"Dang it Jean, you're lucky you're playing next week. Come inside already will you?"

"Uh haha, sorry."I decided that I should ask him about Rico sooner or later but I figured I would rip the bandage off now.

"So, Eren texted me and said there was a new power couple, who is it?" he got this giant smile on his face and I felt nervous.

"Rico and-" I was bracing myself for it, "Marco."

"What." I deadpanned; I felt this giant weight lift from my shoulders. Marco and Rico, Who would have ever thought?

"Call me cupid!" Jean exclaimed imitating an archer, "Who would have known that under that cold exterior that she was a softy for Marco's freckly face, huh?"

"Wow, with all that time you guys spent together I thought it was you and Rico." I said, once again probably sounding too relieved.

"Hahahahaha, good one Armin."

"Hey, I'm free on Saturday for a couple of hours. Let's do something then okay? No scary movies, I promise." He smiled at me; I felt my heart flutter a bit. There was no girl in Jean's life, other than his mom but you know that's not the same.

"Y-yeah, I'd like that." He smiled then spoke in German again.

"Ihr Haar sieht niedlich." _Niedlich, Marco said niedlich means cute, Haar sounds like hair. Sieht, what does sieht mean? Sight? See? Looks! Hair looks cute, crud don't blush._

He seemed to have snapped out of his 'German compliment' mode and back into himself. "Hey, I picked up extra hours at work all week and even some days during that full week of in-services so I gotta go, I'll see you on Saturday, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, it's a date. Bye!" he pulled the same kiss-on-cheek thing that he did at the semis. He opened the door and jogged to his car, obviously oblivious to what he said and did.

"Armin my boy, we must have different definitions of 'straight'." My grandpa said from out of nowhere, I nearly screamed.

"Grandpa! When did you even get home?" I yelled. He just laughed.

* * *

I got up and looked in the mirror at my bruises, they were fading already accept for the one on my forehead. I took my phone out and asked Mikasa if she could cover this up with makeup, she got over about 5 minutes later.

"This one is looking better." She said when she started putting makeup on my jaw.

"The one on my forehead is still pretty bad. I can't believe Jean got suspended."

"I can. He really likes you. If he hadn't I would have hit the boy anyway."

"Where did you get this makeup anyway?"

"Annie left it over." Her face softened.

"Doesn't she hang out with that girl who hit Jean with her stick? Hitch was it? Actually don't they date?"

"Yes. I don't see what this has to do with anything." She glared at me while continuing to apply the makeup on my bruises.

"You can have her someday." Her hand dropped from my head and her eyes widened. "Did Eren actually like that guy you set him up with?"

She regained he composure about 2 seconds after she lost it, she continued putting the liquid on my face. "Hated him, he's mad because if his last date wasn't so hung up on his ex he would have been good."

"Bertholdt and Reiner really loved each other. I hope they got back together." She pulled out a skin colored powder and lightly put it over where she put the liquid.

"That's sufficient. If Eren was up I would offer to take you to school but he'd get mad."

"It's okay, thanks for the help."

"Yeah, no problem."

I walked outside with Mikasa to get the mail, when I turned around I saw Marco down the street talking on the phone smiling. He saw me and waved so I waved back.

I went inside and made breakfast for Grandpa and I ad then got him up and we ate.

"I have to go up to East Rutherford for work on Monday and I probably won't be back for at least a week."

"Okay."

"Jean isn't allowed to sleep over."

"Grandpa!"

"Haha, I'm kidding son, but really I'm not."

"I'm going to get dressed."

"Alright."

**1 new message, Mikasa**

**Eren said because you get a day off he does too so he's refusing to go to school, I'll pick you up in 10 minutes.**

_Okay._

I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and then I slipped my clothes on, I love casual Friday.

**1 new message, Jean**

**Im not allowed at practice or to be at school so im driving you home**

**No walking past the locker rooms by urself ill get u**

_Okay, only bc erens not going today._

Mikasa honked from outside.

We went to a convenience store and she got coffee and then she drove to school.

"Don't you normally pick Annie up?"

"Annie slept over Hitch's last night." Her fingers clenched the wheel so hard her knuckles turned white. Hitch and Annie had been going out since sophomore year so it didn't take a genius to know what they were doing at their 'sleep over'. I flushed a couple shades.

"O-oh. Sorry." I didn't say anything else to her the whole way there. I was pretty scared as she had a death grip on the wheel since I brought Annie up.

All of my classes were uneventful except for physics. Connie was asking me how I was after that kid beat me, telling me about how Jean gave him a black eye yesterday, and that he was glad I was okay, after that he just started texting Sasha.

**1 new message, Eren**

**Wat r u doin tues**

_Nothing_

**Not this tues the next one**

_That's the championship game ill be there_

**O**

I didn't really know where to wait for Jean so I just stood at my locker. Thank god because that's the first place Jean came to.

"Are you doing anything now?" Jean said to me putting his arm around my neck and pulling me past the locker room quickly.

"Other than going home? No."

"Would you want to go somewhere with me?"

"Where?"

"Do you trust me to surprise you?"

"Yes." He smiled pretty wide after that, he drove me.

Jean got on the highway and I was starting to wonder where we were going. He put music on and then started talking about this crazy costumer he had to deal with yesterday at work. Once we got off the highway he began to talk.

"Okay, so my mom gave me 40 dollars dog sitting our neighbors dog because she didn't want to," I laughed at the thought of that, Jean dog sitting. "So I figured I'd make it up to you for probably scaring you on Wednesday." I stayed quiet for that one; I didn't realize how much it bothered him that he frightened me.

"Where are we-"

"Right there." he pointed out of my window. _No way._

"Jean! The aquarium?" I yelled excitedly.

"You said you liked everything about the ocean so I figured-why not?"

"Oh my god! You didn't have-"

"Yeah I did, I scared you and I wanted to make it up."

"God, thank you." I smiled at him. I didn't know how 1 person could make me forget all of the crap I went through 2 days ago.

* * *

**Obvi im just as anxious as all of you for new chapters and Im freaking writing it. Like I go into these chapters not knowing wtf im doin but then I just make it work hell yeah.**

**I think im going to have Eren meet Levi sometime soon, what do you guys think? **

**And wow that Hitch/Annie/Mikasa thing just came out of my ass wth.**

**Anyways, Rico was no threat. Don't worry guys I just wanted to play with you for a chapter.**

**REVIEW GUYS PLS IM ABOUT TO GO TO HELL (preseason)**

******I MAY HAVE TO PUT THIS ON A SMALL HIATUS BECAUSE MY PRESEASON IS TOMORROW SO I'LL BE OCCUPIED FOR AT LEAST 4 HOURS EVERYDAY**


	11. Pre-Birthday

I woke up smiling. I had a great time with Jean at the aquarium on Friday. He refused to touch the stingrays until I forced him and he had an over dramatic spaz attack and little kids laughed at him and called him a loser. On the way back he played different songs for me in the car. My favorite was The Cure; he sang this one song, Fascination Street, pretty dorkily.

Jean told me Friday that we are still hanging out Saturday. 'Just because we came here today doesn't mean that we aren't still on for tomorrow.' Were his exact words.

He was in early morning detention that day for about 3 hours. I still can't believe that he hit that kid again, in the middle of the lunch room out of everything! He slipped a couple of texts to me while he was in there but I didn't answer any because I didn't want him to get in (more) trouble.

We went out to eat and then saw a movie. The bruise on my jaw had gotten better but the one on my forehead was still purple. Jean noticed that and got pretty angry.

Mikasa was texting me and asking what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday. It was in 3 days and she Eren and I always had cake on any one of our birthdays. Grandpa wasn't going to be there this year so he went to get dinner with me last night. He had left this morning for East Rutherford. He told me he'd call me on my birthday and bring something back.

Jean had texted e right as Eren burst through the door.

"Why in god's name are there no decent guys?" he yelled, "You know, if you weren't you-"

"Eren what the heck?" I cut him off with a deadpan.

"Well your great that's all. If I hadn't known you all my life I would tota-"

"Eren let's never have this conversation, like again, ever."

He grumbled to himself and then asked what I wanted for my birthday. I had taken a large interest in jellyfish after going to the aquarium so I told him exactly that. He seemed to think over exactly what to get me and then yelled 'gotcha' and ran out the door back home.

I worried about him sometimes.

Mikasa was with Annie today, I hope that someday she'll tell Annie how she feels, and Eren was, well I never knew what Eren was doing.

I figured I'd just sleep all day as a birthday present to myself since I had been up all last night finishing a packet that my stupid teacher said we had to email to her by today. She probably wasn't even going to look at it. Generally I wasn't sour about this type of stuff but that packet was bigger than Eren's brain.

I texted Mikasa back and told her to surprise me with a flavor.

As soon as I tried to text Jean back Eren ran straight through the door again.

"Eren, where the heck did you go?"

"To tell Mikasa about the jellyfish, and where to take me to get your present."

"Why didn't you just text her?"

"Um, I don't know actually." I shook my head at him, he just takes his first thought and runs with it, well more like charges with it.

"So?" I said, wanting to know why he was just standing there.

I was thinking we could do something if you don't have plans,"

"Alright what do you want to do?"

"It's for your birthday, you pick."

"Eren I don't think you would want to do the same things as me."

"Alright then let's go bowling or something."

"Bowling sounds good." I answered him. Eren smiled and gave an 'okay' and drug me by my forearm to tell Mikasa he was taking the car. She yelled back that as long as he paid for gas she was fine with it. Eren growled and we got in the car.

He was talking about boys now, whining about how there is no one in town who can, I almost gagged when he said this, 'take charge', and that they all acted like nervous middle schoolers and he wants "a real man Goddammit!'

It was borderline painful and definitely awkward to listen to. Sometimes Eren really grossed me out by indulging himself in his fantasies I guess I would call them. He was way too comfortable around me. Thank god the bowling alley is not that far from our houses.

We walked in and we got out shoes-an 11 for Eren and a 9 for me. They opened up an alley and we both got a ball and Eren sat down to put my name I first. He entered it as 'loser' so I pushed him of the chair and entered his as 'baby'. Eren is convinced that he's the king of bowling because we are normally here on his birthday and all throw the game. I swear sometimes Eren acts like an overgrown baby.

He knocked 9 down and acted like he was the best. The look on his face would be amazing when I won, he was so smug right now.

When I bowled a spare Eren's face dropped.

I laughed as he stammered "But you suck at bowling!"

"That's what you think." I replied and he stalked over to get his ball.

"I'm still good at fighting." He muttered. He may not be big on sports but he does kick boxing and judo, it's the only reason why he's not 300 pounds honestly.

He bowled again and knocked down 9, again. I bowled a strike and he looked like he was going to explode.

"Screw you Armin!"

"Eren keep it down." He made some incoherent sounds, bowled knocking 5 over, and then went to go get a pizza. He was going to eat all of it by himself I bet you. He started eating it as he was walking back and he was on his second piece when I turned back around after another spare.

Needless to say I whooped him pretty bad, and he did eat the whole thing, what do you know?

We got lunch after that. I honestly think Eren's stomach is a black hole, though he's nowhere near as bad as Sasha though. She doesn't do anything but eat either, no sports, nothing, just a great metabolism I guess.

When I thought about Sasha, I thought about Connie, which made me think of soccer which made me think of Jean, which made me blush but also made me think of the fact he had texted me and I never replied. I was about to when Eren slammed on the brakes.

"What the?"

"There was a squirrel!"

"Eren what is wrong with you it would've moved?!"

"You don't know that! It could have been blind!"

"Well it wasn't deaf!"

"It could've been both!"

"Eren that's near impossible! I swear there is something wrong with you!" he shut up after that, this is exactly why Mikasa drives everywhere. We're pretty sure Eren has some form of ADHD.

He stopped at my house and told me to get out because he and Mikasa had to go get their presents and a cake.

When I went inside I pulled my phone out to play a game but then I remembered that Jean texted me and I was finally uninterrupted.

**Marco said your birthday is tomorrow?**

**Is this true?**

_Sorry for the wait haha, and yeah it is_

It only took him about 2 minutes to answer

**AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!**

_Ahahaha sorry I guess I forgot_

**17 right?**

_Yep_

**Haha, we'll be the same age 4 a while then haha**

_Did you have practice today_

**Yeah I really think we can win again**

_You will I know it_

**Thanks :)**

_No problem_**.**

**Ok were doing something for your birthday alright**

_Aalright_

How the heck did I stutter while texting?

I went into my room and finally decided to finish in Catcher in the Rye.

* * *

**I KNOW THAT IT SHORT BUT PRESEASON IS IS REALLY DRAINING ME**

**Guys im so sorry it took so long ill make up for it I promise**

_**Preseason is kicking my ass and im very Irish/Scottish/German/Polish so I get super burnt so most of the time when I get home is spent crying because of that and my shoulder being in pain (I have loose shoulders that slip out of socket when I run I just got cleared from having surgery on one of them too)**_

**So im really, really sorry about that thanks for being patient**

**This is a build up chapter too so please bare with me but im physically exhausted**


	12. Birthday

I woke up to the sound of my cell phone ringing. I was having a good dream too. I don't want to go into detail but it did involve Jean. I looked at my clock and it said 4:22 AM. Who the heck was calling me? I picked y phone up and rubbed my eyes. Jean?

"Jean?"

"Armin!"

"It's 4:30 in the morning why are you-"

"Wrong! It's not 4:30 yet."

"Don't be a turd."

"Right, sorry."

"Why are you calling me?" it was way too early for me to be embarrassed by this.

"Oh yeah, are you doing anything right now?"

"Today?"

"No, like exactly right now."

"Other than being half asleep and talking to a dufus? No."

"Ouch. Look would you Gramps care if you went out right exactly now?"

"He's in East Rutherford. Wait why?" I was still disgruntled having still been half asleep.

"So you can go somewhere exactly right now?"

"If I wanted to, sure."

"Go somewhere with me?"

"Jean I'm really tired."

"You can sleep! In the car I mean, I'll wake you up!"

"Jean, I don't-"

"I promise that it's worth it."

"Fine. When will you be here?"

"15 minutes. I promise it's not for nothing."

"Yeah okay, I'll wait."

"Okay, I'm gonna leave now. Bye!"

What the actual heck was Jean planning? And at this hour too. I put on a pair of jeans and a sweater, I was always freezing when I woke up and it was pretty cold outside too. I had no idea where Jean was thinking of taking me too. I didn't ask but he probably wouldn't tell me even if I did ask. He's kind of like Eren in that way I guess.

I put a pair of sneakers on and grabbed my house key and put it in the plant on my porch. Jean showed up then.

"Hi!" he said as I got into the car.

"How are you not tired?"

"I slept most of yesterday after practice. So I'm ready to do anything you know? Anyway just go back to sleep, I'll wake you up once we get there, yeah?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." Jean already had soft rock and alternative music on so that helped me fall asleep. I started to knock out again before we were even past Marco's house. The last thing I saw was the McDonalds and Jean smiling widely. If I was going to resume my dream I really hope I didn't start talking in my sleep.

Woke up later to Jean tapping my shoulder, I muttered a 'wha' and the last thing I saw before he covered my eyes with his hands was the clock in his car and a couple fast food wrappers that weren't there when I got in the car. 5:46 AM.

What took almost an hour to get to while taking a break to get to fast food? Nowhere I've ever been before, that's for sure.

"Jean what are you-"

"Surprise, it's a surprise." He was acting like a 2 year old. "Keep your eyes closed alright?"

"Yeah sure."

I heard him leave the car and panicked a bit, but then I heard him open the door and undo my seatbelt. He helped me out of the car as my eyes were still closed.

It smelt weird wherever we were, which made me want to open my eyes as he was guiding me wherever we were going with his arm around my shoulders.

"Jean, can I open my eyes?"

"I'll tell you when."

We walked for what felt like several blocks before I heard a familiar noise. Being as tired as I was I didn't recognize it though.

"Alright, when." He stated, I took that as 'open your eyes' so I did. I couldn't believe that he did this. I looked at him with wide eyes; I think that I was dreaming.

He smiled at me. "Happy 17th, Armin." He said to me. I can't believe that I actually did it but I did. I hugged him tightly. I thought I was going to cry. He stumbled backwards a bit, probably surprised at this very out of character action of mine. He hugged me back after gaining his balance, resting his chin atop my head.

"Thank you." I said, eyes tearing up.

"No problem." He said rubbing circles on my back.

Jean took me to the beach. The extra hours he was taking at work made sense now.

"Jean, is this why you were working extra shifts?" I inquired, looking up to him.

"Ehehheh, yeah." He replied sheepishly. I felt a tear fall down my cheek "H-hey, don't cry." He said wiping the tear off my face. I hugged him tightly again.

"Thank you." I repeated.

"Yeah," he answered smoothing my hair out.

I let go of him eventually and smiled. He smiled back to me and then nodded in the direction of the water. We walked towards it and I took my shoes off and rolled up the bottoms of my pants. I put my feet in the freezing water, not caring that it stung my skin. I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face if you gave me 1000 dollars.

The part of the beach we were on was secluded since we were here so early, but it looked like it was an unpopular part of the beach. We could see the sun rising and I turned to Jean, the smile still prominent on my face. He was watching me play like a little kid with a small smile on his face, he seemed to be blushing but I couldn't be sure. He had this strange look in his eyes that I couldn't place.

We were there for over an hour when Jean suggested we leave soon. I looked at the watch on his wrist which said 7:05. It hadn't felt that long though. We walked back to his car and I realized that Jean had done a lot for e and knew that I really wanted to go to the ocean. I was rubbing my arm and blushing walking down a sidewalk with Jean

"J-Jean? Why did you bring me here?"

"Because you seemed to really love the book you were reading about the ocean and Marco told me you seemed really interested when he brought up marine biology for a major, so I really wanted to take you here. When I found out it was you birthday I decided to surprise you and use it as your present."

"This is the best present I've ever gotten. Really Jean, thanks."

"I was my pleasure, you really seemed to enjoy yourself and that's what made it worth it."

I could feel my cheeks heat up as he said that, we were back in the lot that Jean had parked in and we got into his car. He started the car and pulled out of the lot.

"You've got to be hungry."

"A little but I'll just-"

"No. I'll take you somewhere, birthday breakfast I guess. No worries."

"Al-alright. Didn't you eat though?" I hinted to the McDonald's wrapper in the center console.

"Nah that was just a breakfast burrito, things are small." We stopped at some family restaurant we sat down and the server came almost immediately. The place wasn't very crowded, I guess because it was after all only around 7:15.

Jean got a stack of waffles and orange juice and I got pancakes and water. If I wasn't mistaken, I would say the waitress was hitting on Jean. After she left Jean asked if the ocean was as good as I thought it would be.

"Yeah, it was. I mean even thought I could only put my feet in, I still loved it."

"Me and Marco's families go there a lot during the summer. No one's ever at that part much so I figured that's where I should take you."

"Jean thanks really."

"I had fun watching you have fun. I'm sorry was that creepy?" I laughed at him and he scratched the back of his neck. Our food came and I realized the waitress was definitely hitting on Jean, who was blowing her off like it was nobody's business. It was strange because she was gorgeous too; she had short red hair and light blue eyes.

Jean really obliterated the waffles. He was done by the time I was halfway through. _Athletes_.

When I was finishing up Jean was talking about whether he should do indoor track or swimming during the winter.

We got in his car and got back to my house about 20 minutes later.

"Thanks Jean."

"Hey, how many times can you say that, huh?"

"A lot actually."

"Hahahahaha. I'll see you, yeah?" he said ruffling my hair_._

"Y-yeah. Bye!" I said and then he removed his hand from my hair.

"Bye!"

I opened the door and went back to my room, whether I seemed to be or not, I was still pretty tired.

I went to bed and I was totally ready to be woken up by Mikasa and Eren when they came with the cake at dinner time.

Which was exactly what I woke up to.

"Happy Birthday!" Eren said with a giant smile and throwing a party hat to me.

"Is he okay?" I asked Mikasa, he was acting weird like this yesterday too.

"Too many energy drinks. He's been staying up studying for this giant test he has when we get back to school."

"That explains yesterday."

"Sorry, Happy Birthday Armin." Mikasa replied with a faint smile.

"I guarantee he's going to crash."

"I'm not arguing with that."

They handed me my gifts and waited for me to open them. Eren got me a small stuffed jellyfish and Mikasa got me a book about marine life and 17 dollars. I told them thanks and hugged them both, after that they sang happy birthday and cut the small cake. Mikasa and I were talking when we heard a squish. We turned to see Eren with his face in his piece of cake.

"I knew it." I said laughing, Mikasa was stifling one herself. We both took pictures, Mikasa making it her lock screen and posting it somewhere. I sent mine to Jean, I knew he would love that.

"Where were you this morning? I came over to see what time we should come over but you weren't here."

"O-oh, I was with Jean."

"At 6 AM? I didn't think that Jean would be the type to get up early."

"Yeah, he woke me up actually."

"When?"

"Around 4:30 I guess."

"What were you guys doing that you were out for so long?"

"Uh, we uh, we went, well he took me to the beach." Mikasa's eyes widened for a split second and then reverted back to normal size.

"Wow that was nice."

"Y-yeah, it was."

"Armin? Do you like Jean?"

"Wha-Eren hasn't said anything yet?"

"Not that I was listening to."

"Y-yeah I do like him."

"I don't think you'd have to deal with the 'but I'm straight' dilemma with him if you told him how you feel."

"D-do you think so?"

"Yeah. Eren told me he said you were cute in German."

"So he did know what that meant!" I glared to a sleeping Eren who was still using a piece of cake as a pillow.

"Yes. He seemed embarrassed just telling me."

We just let Eren lay there in the cake while we watched a movie. He woke up about an hour and went to the bathroom. He came back about 10 minutes later with cake no longer on his face. He fell asleep again with his head on Mikasa's lap and feet on mine. Once the movie was over Mikasa woke him up and took him home.

I was happy. I had a really good day, from Jean taking me to the beach ad to get breakfast to Eren passing out in my cake.

I checked my mailbox and there was a card in there. It was from Marco. It was one of those cards that he got for me every year. It had 15 dollars in it like it did every year, I'd thank him as soon as I saw him.

I walked back inside and went in my room to watch Netflix for the rest of the night

* * *

**Alright go Jean you sweetie. **

**Energy drinks, the reason for OOC Eren bc I did the same once and that's how I got.**

**I hope this makes up for the short last chapter. Hell week is just really hard for me especially when I'm just coming off of an injury and we run over 2 miles in 90 degree weather.**

**Keep up the reviews :) you guys are really the best**

_**Also abt marco/rico I just did it to do it ya know. I literally ship marco with almost everyone bc hes such a sweetie and everyone loves him.**_


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